“We are sat where Leeds are which is not where we want to be” – Lee Radford analyses Castleford’s loss to Hull KR as they go a third week without a win

Castleford Tigers remain winless after sustaining a 26-10 away defeat against Hull KR but Head Coach Lee Radford questioned a couple of calls that went against his side.

Bureta Faraimo and Liam Watts were sin-binned for infringements during the first half, leaving the Tigers with just 11 players for up to seven minutes of gameplay.

Radford has reserved judgement on both incidents but did express bewilderment at other calls throughout the match.

He said “The try we conceded just before half-time, Jordan (Turner) has got to ‘kill’ that ball.

“I genuinely thought that at half-time, we worked hard enough to get some reward out of the back end of it but unfortunately our start of the second half really hurt us.

“The Will Dagger knock on I did see. He dropped the ball before being touched so how that was a penalty, I have no idea.”

However, Radford ultimately recognised his team were not on a good enough technical level.

Though they may be down on troops, Radford is disappointed by the manner of his side’s defeats in the opening three rounds and is hopeful of improvement very soon.

“We are sat where Leeds are, which is not where we want to be,” Radford added.

“We are working hard in areas but we are trying to piece it together.

“We need to play more footy. Obviously, with Danny Richardson not there and Gareth O’Brien in his place at half-back for the second week running.

“Gareth missed a fair bit of pre-season. We really want Jacob Trueman to step up and hold the fort and to get us around the field and hopefully against Hull FC next week, we can see a bit of that.”

Next up for the Tigers is that massive match against Hull FC, Lee Radford’s former club.

It will be the first time the former Hull boss will face his former side, having spent just over six seasons coaching the Black and Whites before departing in March 2020.

Looking ahead at the fixture, Radford said, “Next week is massive for us. When you have lost all three, every game is massive, for your confidence alone.

“You start to overanalyse everything after a loss then after three of them, you are looking under the carpet to see what is there as well. It is important that we get a result.”