Castleford suffer spate of injuries in Magic defeat as fresh Liam Hood neck worry detailed

Castleford Tigers have lost at least five players to injury following their heavy Magic Weekend defeat to Wakefield Trinity, head coach Ryan Carr has confirmed.

Having ended June with a disappointing home defeat against Super League new boys York Knights, the Tigers began July with their heaviest-ever loss against rivals Wakefield.

48-6 was the final score at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Sunday, with the travelling Cas faithful voicing their discontent with boos at half-time and full-time.

It appears to have proven a costly afternoon in more ways than one for Carr’s side, who travel to in-form Leigh Leopards next weekend.

Castleford suffer spate of injuries in Magic defeat as fresh Liam Hood neck worry detailed

George Hirst, Brock Greacen and Tyler Dupree were all forced off for a Head Injury Assessment (HIA) during Sunday’s thumping defeat.

None returned to the field, and post-match, head coach Carr confirmed: “(We had) three head knocks, they all failed, so they’ll be out next week.

“Hoody (Liam Hood) was starting to feel a bit of pain in his neck, I wasn’t going to risk him.

“We’ve got to get a good read on that, so we’re potentially going to lose five because Darnell (McIntosh)’s groin had gone as well.

“He played the second half, but his groin had gone.”

Veteran hooker Hood, who joined Cas from Wakefield ahead of 2026 returned to the side to play his first game since mid-April, when he suffered up a serious neck injury in a win at Wigan Warriors.

The injury was ligament-related, and it was deemed a surprise given the extent of the damage that the Scotland international had not broken his neck.

Asked whether it was the right decision to bring Hood back into the team for the Magic clash against Trinity, Carr said: “Yeah, it’s based on him.

“He got cleared by the professionals and he felt like he wanted to play.

“He played a lot longer than we wanted him to because of the head knocks.

“We didn’t plan to play him that long today, at all.”

Elsewhere, star man Krystian Mapapalangi appeared to have suffered a knock late on, and was limping as he left the stadium, but Carr put that down to being ‘battered and bruised’ rather than there being any real injury concern.