Lee Radford explains Joe Westerman absence against St Helens

Joe Westerman, among others, was left out of the Castleford Tigers side today despite featuring in their nearly heroic comeback against Hull FC last week.

The loose-forward had been subject to plenty of talk prior to the game against Hull after a video circulated of him online.

Despite this and being fined by the club he still featured last week but was absent against St Helens having been named in the squad.

The reason behind his absence, and the likes of Mahe Fonua who was sent to Halifax Panthers on dual registration, was simply performance as Lee Radford said after the game: “All performances.”

In terms of the reaction he expects from them, Radford said: “You can only answer that in a few weeks.”

This came as Radford said he was nervous for the game today:

“I’ve not had a good week, I’ve had a real knot in my stomach because of what went on last week.”

Despite the result, he was pleased with the desire he saw from his side: “I can definitely do something with the effort and desire I saw today.”

He also revealed that though he was impressed by the debut of Muizz Mustapha the interchange was muddled up:

“The interchange got muddled up which hurt us a bit and didn’t go the way I wanted but that sometimes happens.

“We have a five day turn around which is tough. You talk about sides who have shown the ability to stay in the grind, well we have got one and two over this seven day period.”