Castleford coach slams ‘pathetic’ showing in Leeds thumping as player exits promised
Castleford Tigers' Director of Rugby Chris Chester
Castleford’s Director of Rugby Chris Chester vowed that players would be ‘shipped out’ of the club ahead of 2026 after the Tigers’ delivered a ‘pathetic’ showing in their 64-6 home defeat to Leeds Rhinos.
The Tigers were 36-0 down by half-time against the top-two chasing Rhinos on Saturday afternoon, and went on to concede a further 28 unanswered points before eventually responding through Jenson Windley’s late consolation.
Only three times before have Cas suffered a heavier defeat in Super League, and only once on home soil with that a 72-4 loss to St Helens back in 2006.
Chester remains in interim charge, and has already promised to deliver plenty of change in the off-season. But after their latest defeat, his anger ran even deeper.
Castleford coach slams ‘pathetic’ showing in Leeds thumping as player exits promised
Losing each of their last three games, to Saints, Hull KR and now Leeds, Cas have been beaten by an aggregate score of 140-12.
Speaking to Sky Sports post-match, Chester said: “I’m here fronting up, and I just wish some of our guys would have fronted up physically today. It was pathetic, some of the efforts.
“I could tell after two minutes we weren’t at the races. I’m just really disappointed and peeved off with the effort.
“I feel like a stuck record. I can cop getting beat, but I can’t cop effort like that.
“I’m really disappointed with some individuals… we want some leadership from the off, we’ve got some senior guys in there that needed to show a bit of leadership.
“We didn’t get that, and maybe I need to make some tougher decisions on some individuals that may be contracted at this club for next year, but they might not be after today’s performance.
“It’s got to mean something and it’s got to hurt. It frustrates the hell out of me, performances like that. It was such an inept performance both individually and collectively, I can’t stomach that.
“We’ve got to get some people through the door willing to fight for every inch, for the team, for the fans and for the town. We haven’t got that at the minute.
“There are going to be some players that are shipped out. There’s no excuse for that today, it was very poor on our part.”
The Fords will finally appoint Danny McGuire’s permanent successor in the shape of their new head coach next week.
Chester explained: “We’ve put an offer to a particular coach, our preferred candidate. We’ll discuss over the weekend and hopefully come Monday or Tuesday, we will have an agreement in place.
“Unfortunately for me, it’s going to be the start of pre-season (they take charge). That can’t come soon enough for me because we’ve got some seriously hard work to do between now, the end of the season and the start of pre-season.”
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