Castleford Tigers are in line to hand out a debut tonight and there could be a few more to come this Super League season based on comments from Chris Chester.
Chester was appointed as the club’s director of rugby but he’s also found himself in an interim head coach role, something he will likely keep for the remainder of the season.
That’s despite Chester confirming that he expects and hopes to be able to confirm a new head coach by Friday 8th August, however, he explained that four of the five final candidates are currently in overseas jobs and would likely see those roles out before heading to Wheldon Road next year.
As such, it means that Chester is in charge of selection and he’s confirmed that there could be a Castleford Tigers debut handed out this week with Andy Djeukessi the man in line for a call-up.
Both Djeukessi and Jenson Windley, who played a handful of times late in 2024 but hasn’t featured yet in 2025, have been named to the 21-man squad and Chester has named them as the first two of several young players he intends to blood in the final eight games of the Super League season.
Castleford Tigers points to Hull FC as selection choices explained
Speaking to his squad selection, Chester confirmed: “There’ll be a couple of changes, one forced, obviously as we lost Innes Senior who is going to be out now for the rest of the year. I think he had surgery on Tuesday, ankle surgery, so that keeps him out for the rest of the year.”
It’s a big blow to lose Senior, arguably the club’s biggest strike threat, however, Chester was able to provide the positive news of youth being introduced.
He explained: “I brought in Jenson Windley and Andy Djeukessi, at least one of those guys will play this week, so I’m really looking forward to seeing that. They’ve trained, they’ve had a good week, both those two guys have had a good couple of weeks of training, in a full-time environment.
“Jenson’s been out on loan at Sheffield and done well, as has Andy. They’re two really talented kids, and I’ve just had another chat with a couple of the other young guys that I intend to give some more opportunities to some young kids over the next couple of weeks.”
The season is effectively over for Castleford in respects to making the play-offs so it’s all about pride and developing for 2026 and with that in mind, Chester has explained that he plans to copy the template Hull FC set last year when the injury-stricken and out-of-form Black and Whites blooded plenty of youth.
Chester said: “They got a lot of stick last year did Hull with the teams they were putting out. They were blooding a lot of young kids and I think that’s what I need to do between now and the end of the season, blood some of these young kids, just to see if they are going to be ready in 26.
“I intend to do that with Andy and with Jenson and a couple of other young kids.”
Chester talks up promising youngster
Talking specifically about Djeukessi, who has been named to the 21-man squad previously but is yet to debut, Chester spoke positively about the outside back who could be the man to benefit from Senior’s season-ending surgery.
The Castleford Tigers boss said: “Physically he’s still only very slight is Andy, but he’s a goer, he’s a trier, he’s got some speed, and if he gets out in the open there’s not many people who are going to catch him, so I think that’s the exciting part, and that’s what the Cas fans will be excited for.
“I’m excited to see him play, and both him and Jenson are both ready to go when selected. Just lastly for me, just assess the challenge of going to Saints in this day and age.”
It might not just be Windley and Djeukessi who earn shots this year and Chester spoke on the promise that the club’s academy boasts.
He said: “I think for the club, for the town, the Castleford people want to see Cas lads do well, and we’ve always seen some good kids here at Castleford.
“I think the frustration for me is that some of these players are getting cherry-picked at such a young age from the so-called bigger clubs, so I just think it’s important that we get on the front foot with it all, and in the next five to ten years it would be great to see a team that’s made out of Castleford lads playing for the hometown team. That’s certainly a goal of ours within that ten-year period, but there’s a lot of hard work to do between now and then.”
SQUAD NEWS
Our 21-Man squad is in!
We travel over to The Totally Wicked Stadium this Friday evening, as we are set to face @Saints1890 👊
🎟️ Tickets – https://t.co/gyVcAHJbVQ#COYF 🐯 pic.twitter.com/VGcHdwwhXo
— Castleford Tigers (@CTRLFC) July 30, 2025
