Super League coach on whether experienced forward will be offered new deal

It is a big week for one Castleford Tigers star as Adam Milner is set to make his 300th appearance for the club.

Naturally coach Andy Last has heaped praise on the veteran forward.

“It’s a huge milestone, I think it makes him the appearance holder for Castleford in Super League,” he said on BBC Radio Leeds.

“I spoke during his shirt presentation, for which his family came in for which was a nice touch, about how Adz epitomises what I want in a player.

“The tag line in my interview was that ‘I’m proud to be Cas’ and I think Adz epitomises that. He turns up and competes hard every game.

“He punches above his weight, plays with desire, competes to win on a weekly basis and he’s served the club with great distinction.

“He’s still going strong and managing to secure a starting spot in our team at the moment despite some younger lads snapping at his heels, that’s a credit to him and how he is as a player.”

Milner, like others, is out of contract at the end of the year and Last addressed whether the club will extend his stay.

“Performance is king,” Last acknowledged.

“With the May 1st deadline everyone is getting letters, agents come in and have a chat and maybe offer them deals for next year further on but like I’ve said to the majority of the guys, ‘performance takes care of business’.

“If you’re performing well then it gives you a better chance of getting a contract at Castleford Tigers if that’s what you want to do. If you don’t perform well then there’s every chance you won’t get an offer from us, if you perform poorly you miss an opportunity to put yourself in the shop window.

“The fact that we’re third from bottom and not winning many games doesn’t bode well for us as a team so there’s areas that each individual needs to fix to improve. If they improve their performances then the collective becomes better and we start winning some more games and good things happen on the back of performing well.

“That’s been communicated to the boys and Adz is no different, he’s been around the block and he’s an experienced player. He knows he needs to take care of his performance and if he does then there’s every chance he could be staying here.

“On the back of the way that we’ve started the season I think all those guys are aware that they need to perform better to take care of their respective futures.”