“Embarrassing” – Castleford Tigers coach makes dig at own players after defeat

Castleford Tigers lost 50-8 on Friday night against West Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield Giants.

It is the fourth defeat in a row for the Castleford Tigers who are yet to win a game alongside London Broncos and Leigh Leopards at the bottom of the early Super League table.

It was a result that did not sit well with Head Coach Craig Lingard who spoke on the club’s website on Tigers TV.

He said it hurts and questioned if it hurt his players in the way it should: “It hurts massively and I think the main thing is that it’s got to hurt the players. Some of them maybe it does but some maybe not so much.

“That’s not the kind of performance I want to be associated with or the club wants to be associated with. It doesn’t represent us as a club or as a playing group.

“We have got to be a team that’s effort-based, that’s going to outwork other teams, and Huddersfield completely blew us off the park with all the effort-based stuff.”

Castleford Tigers addresses “embarrassing” defeat

Castleford Tigers Head Coach Lingard went on to explain what he said to his players at halftime which he felt prompted his side to be better for 20 minutes but even that wasn’t good enough.

He said: “They got a rocket at halftime and then came out for the second half and then they played for 20 minutes like they should have started the game but doing that for 20 minutes isn’t good enough.”

Lingard also described it as “embarrassing” as he said he would be hurting this weekend and wondered if it would have the same impact on his players.

He said: “To capitulate like we did at the back end of the game was embarrassing at times. We knew these tough days were going to come but this has hit us hard. I don’t think it hurts too many people but I’ll have a horrible weekend.”

The Tigers will want to turn things around and avoiding the same kind of start they made to the Super League season in 2023 which led to Lee Radford leaving the club and ultimately led to Craig Lingard’s appointment in the hotseat.