Head coach Craig Lingard has spoken about the value of developing homegrown talent as a big way to go forward for Castleford Tigers.
Young outside back Fletcher Rooney made a big impression when he scored a try after just four minutes of his home debut against Leigh and Lingard wants to see more youngsters take their chance to impress in the rest of the 2024 season.
Lingard praised Rooney’s efforts as he came in on the wing in the absence of hamstring injury victim Jason Qarequare.
He said: “I spoke to him at the start of the game and told him he was going to get peppered and they were going to kick to him as they would do with a young kid on the wing.
Castleford Tigers’ hometown hero Joe Westerman celebrates scoring a try against Leigh. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com
Castleford Tigers’ hometown hero Joe Westerman celebrates scoring a try against Leigh. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com
“I thought he dealt with that and I don’t think he would have dreamed that four minutes into your home debut you score a try in the corner to put your team four points up.
“I was really pleased for Fletch. He’s worked really hard to get to where he is and hopefully it’s the first of many tries for Castleford.
“Potentially he will get more games this season – we’ll have to assess how Jason’s hamstring injury is in the coming weeks.
“It’s now about chucking some of our younger players in, these younger kids we are looking to develop over the next couple of years.
“We’re hoping they start to play a big part in the future of Castleford Tigers and the ony way they can do that is to play some games
“We need to start developing our own players, players that want to play for their local club. It’s great business-sense wise and we want to have players who have a pride in representing their hometown club.”
While Lingard was left frustrated by the 20-10 loss to Leigh and described it as “one that got away” he saw more signs that his team were on the right road and were improved from the start of the season.
He said: “I keep referring to things back about our journey, where we are now and where we were at the start of the season and we’ve got to remember that it’s about a two-three year plan.
“As frustrating as it is talking about another defeat we’ve got to start picking the positives up from matches like this where we had a momentum swing and went 10 points down then they scored again. It could have quite easily have turned into a 30-point defeat – but it didn’t.
“We came back, scored another try and pushed again and ended up losing by 10 points. It’s disappointing, but from where we were at the start of the season to where we are now shows.
“We need to take these positives between now and the end of the season – hopefully there’s going to be some more
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