Castleford Tigers coach Ryan Carr pulled no punches when tearing into his side over their attitude in the club’s 34-0 defeat to Wakefield Trinity.
It’s a result that has seen Castleford slip to the foot of Super League on points difference with the Tigers picking up just two wins all season, one of which came last week against Bradford Bulls.
For Carr, who spoke post-match, the stark contrast between that Bulls’ win and the Wakefield defeat was something he simply cannot explain.
“It’s concerning,” the Australian admitted, adding: “It’s concerning that certain individuals can play the way they played ten days ago and then today look like different people out there.
“It’s something that I’ve got to get to the bottom of, but obviously it’s a tough day for us as a club in front of a big club and we let them down.”
It was a defeat that played out in front of a sold-out crowd at the OneBore stadium, making it all the more embarrassing with Castleford now facing a period of reflection before taking on Wigan Warriors in round eight of Super League.
Castleford Tigers calls on ‘attitude adjustment’ for players
Jason Qareqare’s disallowed try was seen as a turning point by Carr with Castleford simply folding beyond that point, something that the Tigers’ head coach pointed to.
He said: “For whatever reason, momentum swings against us and we’ve got too many people who become victims in that moment and feel sorry for themselves and don’t respond well enough.”
Something that Carr kept circling back to was how Wakefield dominated the Tigers in the physical battle, leading him to call on his players to simply be more accountable and go and beat their opposite number.
“Physically, we got dominated with the ball and without the ball,” a frustrated Carr admitted.
“Physically we got beat all over the park and some individuals need an attitude adjustment on that. Being a professional athlete, you’ve got to go out and beat your opposition. You’ve got to go and be more physical than your opposition when you’re playing a contact sport like ours and unfortunately, they won that collision.”
He also allayed any suggestion that the club had been unprepared by explaining that they knew exactly what Wakefield would throw against them, with the frustration laying in the fact that Castleford simply couldn’t handle it on the day.
Carr said: “Everything that happened, we’d worked really hard (to prepare) for. That’s why we could defend our try line but you can’t do it for 40 minutes straight, which is what happened.”
