It’s tough times at Castleford Tigers at the moment with new head coach Craig Lingard certainly facing a baptism of fire since taking the hot seat at the Jungle prior to this campaign.
The Tigers, albeit gutsy in part of games this season, have looked short of the quality to compete with most teams in Super League and are currently bottom of the table after five games.
Those five games have brought about five defeats, with last week’s hammering at home to Huddersfield Giants the low point of a disappointing start to the 2024 campaign.
Going into this week’s tricky look game away to last season’s Grand Final runners-up Catalans Dragons in the South of France, Castleford fans were fearing the worst with another potential heavy loss on the cards.
Castleford Tigers beaten comfortably by Catalans Dragons
Despite an improvement on last week’s dismal display against Huddersfield, Castleford fell to their fifth loss in a row in Perpignan as Catalans Dragons ran in seven tries on their way to a 40-14 victory.
It was another tough watch at times for Tigers fans as despite some positive moments in the game, it was ultimately another game in which the Fords had struggled to end it with a competitive scoreline.
The three tries from the visitors, which came from Joe Westerman and a double from winger Josh Simm, were certainly signs of improvement from Lingard’s side in attack.
But defensively Cas were again too easy to break down, with the 40 points conceded taking their total to 90 points on the against column over two games for a side likely to be battling most of this season at the bottom.
The poor form of Hull FC and newly-promoted London Broncos may act as a safety net for the Tigers, but the majority of the fan base have seemingly now accepted it will be another season of struggle for the West Yorkshire club.
Supporters took to social media to again make clear their frustration at the way the club is currently being run, with the players and business model coming in for criticism not for the first time this season.
The league whipping boys 😔
— Felix Lighter (@DanielS93089729) March 16, 2024
Genuine question to follow up from Tues MtD meeting:
If every point matters for IMG, why aren’t we doing everything in our power to put out a winning, competitive team? Can’t use money as an excuse as stadium cash being funded by council and Jepson. Can’t use funding gap
— Mark F (@Pleyndamour) March 16, 2024
Short term pain for long term gain. If that's the plan then ok. But there's some in this team that just aren't SL quality. On this effort we'll beat London and hopefully a couple of others at WR as well. Add a quality FB, Centre n Half to this side and we improve ten fold.
— Stuey Leach (@StueyLeach) March 16, 2024
We need to start closing the gap in games. We can't be losing by this much. I like the effort and clear we lack quality in areas , but alot we bring on ourself. Errors pens etc. I believe this team is better than the results show. Use batley as confidence get a win.
— Ryan (@Rprince93) March 16, 2024
They will not win a game this year they are going in the championships, and they deserve to go in and sack the coach and get rid of the players
— Emma Smith (@EmmaSmith168240) March 16, 2024
At least we're consistent and concede 30+ points every week
— jonny haigh (@jonny120305) March 16, 2024
Better than last week but still not good enough. Just way too many errors. And giving up way too many meters
— George steel (@gas12345678) March 16, 2024
The effort & the work rate tonight was right there throughout! 100% effort that 👏🏻 the 2017 fans won’t see that tho but heads up cas! It’s a rebuild now with IMG’s shit model! COYF
— Christopher Forster (@RLF1FC180) March 16, 2024
Better than last week. Just not good enough sadly.
— Scott 👨🏻💻🤦🏻♂️ (Him/He) (@fusionet24) March 16, 2024
Could Castleford Tigers finish bottom of Super League?
It certainly looks at this early stage of the season that Castleford, London Broncos and Hull FC are going to be involved in a scrap at the bottom of the Super League table.
For Castleford, it has been a tough start with some tricky games, but this current Super League competition looks pretty unforgiving and there doesn’t seem to be much let up.
Craig Lingard was always taking on a tough job and there is an argument to suggest his squad is one of, on paper anyway, the lowest-quality ones in the league – and that certainly looks to be the case from what we have seen so far this campaign.
But the former Batley coach needs time, he didn’t work miracles off the bat with the Bulldogs in the Championship and was able to build a team that competed with the best in that division over time.
Whether he will be afforded that time at Cas remains to be seen. Lingard needs his first win to come soon, otherwise the pressure will only increase as the fans seek to find some form of improvement on last season.
