“We don’t want players on over-inflated salaries” – Super League coach says side aren’t getting full value from salary cap

Andy Last has confirmed that the Castleford Tigers are looking for players who “actually want to come.”

This came as he said the Tigers are out there and “identifying players” in the transfer market.

“Obviously, you’re making offers to players and identifying players. But like I said last week, you can have the money available to you, you can identify the player, but they’ve got to actually want to come. That’s the process which most clubs are going through at the moment. We’re just one of 12 clubs who are in the same boat,” Last said on BBC Radio Leeds.

Last also addressed the club’s salary cap.

When asked, ‘Is it a big cut from this year to next year at the minute?’

Last said: “No, it’s just basically just making sure that we get the right players on the right salaries. What we don’t want to do is have players on over-inflated salaries and not delivering on performance week in, week out.

“We want to make sure that we get full value from out cap, which we probably haven’t done this season so that’s why we’re being very very diligent and making sure we make the correct moves.”

Asked how long it will be until he gets the squad he wants, Last said:

“It’s going to take a little bit of time. A couple of windows you’d like to hope that you’re starting to see what we want to be about moving forward. We’ve spoken about lowering the age profile of the team previously.

“We are actually trying to do that with some of the signings that we’re making. But plenty of other teams have got the same plan. So you’re fighting it out for the same players, which is a challenge. But we’ve made some strides with regards to how the team is going to look next year. We’ll make sure that as and when we’re able to we’ll put out news with regards to recruitment.”