Blake Austin confirms he has joined lower league team

When former Leeds Rhinos and Warrington Wolves star Blake Austin signed for Castleford Tigers it was seen as a major shock.

This is not set to be the last shock concerning Blake Austin with the halfback revealing in social media that he is set to join a new club.

This comes after he moved back to Australia sadly just missing out on UK citizenship by a matter of months after not picking up a Super League contract.

He had spoken about moving to the NRL in the past and acting as a number 14 on the bench but it seems his new team will be in the lower leagues of Australia with Austin saying on social media:

“Telling my five year old about my new team for next year and had to explain it’s not on TV or in big stadiums.”

The halfback therefore has a new somewhat surprising team but it has yet to be confirmed for the 2024 season.

It is still a surprise to see him not playing in Super League with many expecting him to sign permanently for Castleford Tigers. This departure was later explained by Cas Head of Recruitment Danny Wilson.

“We’ve done a lot of our business early but it isn’t finished and wasn’t finished. The players of Blake’s calibre, you can’t ignore that and what he can give,” Wilson said on The COYFCast podcast.

“We wanted to give him six games to get a really good look at him, it was a consideration. We spoke with the board and probably for the value he could get somewhere else, we probably needed to move in a different direction in terms of our recruitment and what we are looking at in terms of a different player profile.

“You get players that have had big experiences elsewhere and fetch a good salary -and rightly so – but don’t always perform for the next 12 or 24 months so we need to be a bit stronger in our beliefs and where we ned to take the squad.

“Blake will get a contract that is the right price for him, we are grateful for everything he has done but we need to move in a different direction.”