Castleford Tigers boss Ryan Carr’s first words as he urges fans to “be excited” ahead of 2026 with pre-season message sent

The new Castleford Tigers boss, Ryan Carr, has given his first interview as head coach, now that he has arrived from Australia.

The former St George Illawarra Dragons assistant, and interim head coach, has signed at three-year deal at the Onebore Stadium, and has announced his vision as to what Castleford will look like next year.

The Tigers had a dismal 2025 season that started under the tutelage of Danny McGuire, before he was sacked just 17 games into his contract, and it meant that Director of Rugby, Chris Chester, had to take the reigns for the second half of the campaign.

Carr, who previously coached Featherstone Rovers in the UK before landing an NRL gig, has big plans for his new club, and with the new recruits they have brought in, hopes for a successful year in 2026.

The 37-year-old revealed that it was Chester who played a big role in him signing at the club, having already established a relationship with him during his first stint in West Yorkshire.

Speaking to the club’s social media channels, he revealed that it was the former Wakefield and Hull KR boss who convinced him to sign the contract.

He said: “I had an existing relationship with Chezzy [Chester], and we’ve stayed in contact over the last five or six years on a regular basis.

“He reached out to me and explained to me the vision of the club and where they’re heading and to see if I was keen, if I was interested, which I was.

“At the time I was with the St George Illawarra Dragons and I really enjoyed my time there and had a lot of good relationships. It wasn’t an easy decision, but once Chezzy and I really talked it through and I spoke to Martin [Jepson] too and the board, who were really good to talk to, they sort of gave me the confidence that it was the home for me and for my family and we’re excited.”

Rebuilding a Castleford side who were so disappointing last year was never going to be easy, but Carr believes he is the right man for the job, and looks forward to the challenge.

Asked what he will bring to the club, the new boss replied: “Hopefully some wins. That’s what we’re here for.

“I just want to bring the excitement to the club and to the community again. It’s got such a rich rugby history, the Castleford town, and I just want to have a team that they’re proud of and one that they want to come and get behind.”

In a message to the fans, he said:  “I’ve worked here previously and I’ve coached at this field and I know what an intimidating environment it can be when it’s full of Castleford fans.

“Hopefully we can fill it out because it’s such a massive advantage having a crowd like that behind us and I know that the team that we run out there will be really competitive and we’ll compete hard and do everything they can to compete for them and the members because that’s ultimately what we’re here for, to do them proud and do our best on the field.”

“We just want to look forward” – Castleford Tigers boss hoping to right the wrongs of last year as he issues pre-season message

Carr believes that his way of coaching, combined with the new recruits they have signed, will make for a better year, and whilst it won’t be easy, he hopes that the playing group will be willing to do everything they can in order to improve the Castleford club.

“It will be different because we’ve got a new roster of players,” he said when questioned how 2026 will be different to 2025.

“We’ve got a lot of new staff coming in. What we’re going to do throughout the pre-season will be different to what’s been done previously and I spoke to the group briefly a few weeks ago, before they went on their break, about we don’t want to look backwards too much, we just want to look forwards.

The ex-Dragons coach believes there is no point dwelling on seasons gone by, and he hopes those years of sorrow will be a distant memory by the time his work is complete.

“We’ll focus on what we can control. We can’t control what’s happened, all we can control is what we do next. I just want to make sure that the playing group that we assemble, and our staff, we come together as one and we really buy into the direction we go as a group.

“It’s going to take everyone to make us successful. It’s not going to come down to one player or one person, it’s going to come down to everyone doing their job, giving everything they’ve got, sacrificing everything they’ve got for the betterment of this team and this club.

“Hopefully the brand that we put out on the field will give the fans something to be excited by. We’ll play a different style to what’s probably been played before, which I’m excited about.”

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First Interview | Ryan Carr

We sat down with our new Head Coach to discuss his first impressions and his thoughts heading into 2026. pic.twitter.com/Fwz2ofCnKZ

— Castleford Tigers (@CTRLFC) October 31, 2025