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Castleford Tigers’ signing nears exit as recruitment options open and Danny McGuire confirms star’s injury blow

Castleford Tigers

Coach Danny McGuire has revealed why Tex Hoy isn’t in Castleford Tigers’ squad to visit his former side Hull FC tomorrow and who’s likely to replace him.

The Australian full-back wasn’t named in Tigers’ initial 21-man squad and speaking at his weekly preview press conference today (Thursday), McGuire confirmed: “He unfortunately suffered a bit of a calf injury in training last week and he’s going to be missing for a few weeks.

“Best-case, it’ll probably be three or four weeks. It’s not a really serious one, but it’s disappointing because he has been really consistent and he’s building in confidence and maturity. But as always when you get injuries, you have to adapt and somebody else will get an opportunity this week.”

On who will replace Hoy, McGuire insisted: “We’ve got a few players who can slide in there and we’ve worked on some different combinations this week. Chris Atkin can play there, so can Zac Cini and Innes Senior.

“It’s not their preferred position, but they are adaptable and able to do it pretty comfortably. Probably Zac is the front-runner at the minute, he has been training there for the majority of the week, but we’ll see how it plays out. Missing Tex is not ideal, but good teams are able to adapt and that’s the challenge for us this week.”

Nineteen-year-old full-back Fletcher Rooney has been on the casualty list since March with a thigh injury, but could come into contention during Hoy’s layoff. McGuire said: “He’s flying and doing some good things – I feel like he’ll be available in the next couple of weeks. We play a reserve game in two or three weeks’ time and I think he has been pencilled in for that.”

Castleford Tigers boss confirms Judah Rimbu set to leave

Papua New Guinea hooker Judah Rimbu has been left out of the squad to face Hull and his brief Tigers career appears to be coming to an end. The pre-season signing hasn’t played since the loss to Wakefield Trinity at Magic Weekend more than a month ago and his exit will free up a place on Castleford’s overseas quota.

“There’s a bit going on behind the scenes,” McGuire said. “It is not officially done, there’s some bits to sort out, but there is something going on. Judah came over and really wanted to make a difference for the club and really wanted to take his opportunity, but it just hasn’t quite played out.

“We have got players in front of him in that position – Liam Horne, Chris Atkin, Cain Robb – so he has found it tough for minutes. Sometimes in sport things just don’t work out – it’s not through lack of effort, he’s probably just not the right fit for us at the moment.

“There will definitely be an opportunity for Judah somewhere down the line. He is a great kid and a good player.”

McGuire stressed Tigers are “busy” looking at recruitment, including filling Rimbu’s quota spot if and when his exit is confirmed, but said Leeds Rhinos’ out of favour scrum-half Matt Frawley is not currently on their radar.

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