Sky pundits don’t hold back in assessment of Super League side’s “blunt” attack

Much has been made of Wakefield Trinity’s inability to score points in 2023 but Castleford Tigers aren’t much better with 17 tries in 10 games this season.

Last night, Jon Wilkin and Phil Clarke looked at the spine of the team and Jon Wilkin pointed out something worrying about the Tigers:

“Jack Broadbent saves Castleford here. If that is Gareth Widdop then the average age of that is 32 and you start to think that is creaking, that’s old and maybe lacking a bit of pace.

“On the flipside of that you have Jordan Abdull and Mikey Lewis who are so exciting and a good age and I throw Elliot Minchella into that as well because I think he has been a breath of fresh air.

“Experience isn’t always a negative but there is a youthful energy like Jordan Abdull and Mikey Lewis bring and it gets me excited to watch.”

Clarke then added:

“What worries me about them is where they are going to score their points from.

“There are many factors involved but one of the biggest I’d say is that Jake Trueman last year was involved in 10 tries and Gareth Widdop and Jacob Miller, who replaced him, haven’t done that for a variety of reasons.

“Paul McShane doesn’t run as much as he used to it and isn’t as dangerous as he was in 2020 when he won the Man of Steel.

“Their attack doesn’t seem good enough.”

They believe that Jack Broadbent is a rare bright spark in the attack with Wilkin saying:

“He has speed and that is my one concern is speed. I think that is why they win games at home because it is a shorter pitch so moving quickly isn’t as important.

“Jack Broadbent can move quickly over the ground and he might be the guy with speed to unlock defences.”

Ultimately though Wilkin gave this bleak assessment of watching Cas play:

“I think they are blunt attacking wise, they don’t excite me to watch them. I don’t see an awful lot and that has been proven in the points they have scored. They are blunt in attack.”