Lee Radford confirms Castleford Tigers star’s season is over and makes cheeky dig at Liam Watts

2022 has been a year of adversity for the Castleford Tigers, but somehow they keep ploughing away.

Last night they lost the likes of Alex Mellor and Gareth O’Brien and yet were able to produce an outstanding second half to turn an 18-14 halftime deficit into a 46-18 win over Hull FC on coach Lee Radford’s return to his old stomping ground.

It cements Castleford’s place in the top six and even gives them a whiff of the top four especially with third and fourth set to meet today as Catalans host Huddersfield.

To finish in the top four despite their setbacks would be remarkable from the Tigers, and Radford defiantly told BBC sport yesterday that the Tigers would strive to finish as high as they can: “We’ll finish as high as we possibly can. Again, what’s happening over these next five or six weeks in terms of where the fixtures are and who we play is really important but we’ll keep chipping away.”

Low on troops, Radford also confirmed that Liam Watts was the only likely returnee whilst having a cheeky dig at the prop for the number of bans he’s accumulated this year: “Liam Watts, I think that’s it. He owes us about 10 games it’s not his fault though he says. Hopefully he can come back and galvanise us.”

❗️ Another season-ending injury for Castleford!

🏉 @CTRLFC coach Lee Radford reveals Nathan Massey blow following last night’s victory at Hull FC.

Full interview
🎧 https://t.co/KfoClvNE3j

🐯 #castigers pic.twitter.com/5kc4RhCIRv

— BBC Sport West Yorkshire (@BBCWYS) July 23, 2022

The Tigers need him back with Radford confirming that another Tiger’s season is over.

He confirmed that Nathan Massey was unlikely to play another game this year saying: “It looks like his season’s finished.”

On a more positive note Sosaia Feki has returned to West Yorkshire after returning home for personal reasons.

He could make his long awaited return to the side soon: “Sosaia Feki landed yesterday, he’ll be another one in contention.”