Castleford Tigers’ director of rugby Chris Chester has offered a comprehensive injury update and shed light on the club’s latest signings, as well as providing an update on future recruitment opportunities.
A number of injuries have seen Castleford act in the market this week with both Tyler Dupree and Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e signed to permanent deals, whilst Tom Nicholson-Watton and Brad Dwyer have been loaned in with Jimmy Beckett also recalled from loan.
That’s given Ryan Carr plenty to think of ahead of tonight’s game against Hull KR but the Tigers are still without plenty of key players with George Hirst (HIA), Jack Ashworth (neck) and Jenson Windley (back) the latest trio to go down.
On top of those three, Chris Chester shared updates on the longer-term absentees including star signing Blake Taaffe (ACL) and hooker Liam Hood, who remained in hospital at the time of Chester’s update on Wednesday, which was shared via the club’s YouTube channel.
The Castleford director said: “(Blake) Taaffe is going really well. It’s only very very early stages. That’s a nine to twelve month injury but he’s getting through his rehab pretty good. Everything is on target.”
As for Hood, he revealed: “He suffered a significant neck injury in the win against Wigan. He got his head caught in a tackle, didn’t think anything of it but was in significant pain the day after the game.
“We quickly managed to get Liam to the hospital and he’s still in hospital as we speak. There’s no fracture but there is some damage I think to the ligaments or muscle in his neck.
“I think he’s due some more scans and more tests but he’s still in a neck brace. We’re probably looking a minimum of 12 weeks. We’re devastated for Liam, we’re a better team with Liam in the squad.”
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Another senior player set for a long spell out is Joe Westerman after he suffered a second concussion in short succession with Chester confirming: “Westy has to sit 12 weeks on the sidelines. That’s being led by a specialist as he suffered two significant head injuries in a couple of the games.
“He’s suffered no more headaches but it’s just kind of a waiting game.”
Fletcher Rooney remains a ‘long way’ off but there is positive news in the outside backs in that Louis Senior and Semi Valemei could be back after the Challenge Cup break, or potentially the week after that.
Chester confirmed: “Louis should be available for the York game, that’s what we’re kind of pushing. He had a significant syndesmosis injury at the start of the season in a friendly against St Helens.
“He’s progressing really well, training with the boys, and it’s about getting the miles in his legs so he’s ready to go against York.
“In terms of Semi, he picked up a bit of a knock on his knee in the Warrington game. He played in the Bradford game and suffered a concussion in that.
“He complained of some knee pain and when we got it checked out, he needed something shaving off the knee. He’s had a bit of a clean out of the knee. He’s training really well, we’re looking at the York game or the week after.
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How Castleford landed Tyler Dupree
Pivoting to talk about the recent additions, Chester revealed that the club had already secured a deal to bring Tyler Dupree to Castleford Tigers for 2027 but they were able to bring that forward six months, with both he and Laulu-Togaga’e signing deals until the end of 2029.
Chester said: “We’d already got a deal in place with Tyler for the next three years and it just made sense once we knew he wanted to come back to the UK sooner.
“Phoenix came about very late last week when we found out he was coming home. He’s just a real good addition to the squad and a much-needed addition.”
As for why now, he said: “I think when we looked at the squad the other day, we had 15 or 16 players who could train. We’ve got eight or nine who are injured.”
He also hinted at more comings and goings: “It’s always ongoing, I’m confident that we may bring a couple in before the end of the year and on the flipside, there may be some players that go out. It’s week by week on that front.”
