Castleford Tigers dealt pre-season injury blow as star import suffers setback

Castleford Tigers have been dealt a potentially significant pre-season injury blow, with star NRL import Semi Valemei facing a nervous wait to discover how long he could be out of action for.

Valemei is one of Castleford’s headline signings going into the 2026 season, having joined the Tigers on a two-year deal from North Queensland Cowboys.

He was set to start the season at centre and had been named in Ryan Carr’s squad to face St Helens in Matty Lees’ testimonial on Saturday afternoon. However, he will now not feature after picking up a hamstring injury in training this week.

Valemei has suffered what the club have described as a strain to his hamstring, ruling him out of the game against the Saints. The further prognosis beyond that is unclear, though Tigers coach Carr will likely be quizzed on the matter further after Saturday afternoon’s game at the BrewDog Stadium.

Any potentially significant lay-off would be a devastating blow for the Tigers, who had earmarked Valemei to make a huge impact after arriving from the NRL.

Should he miss the season opener against Wigan Warriors, it would leave Castleford without two frontline centres for that game – with Zac Cini also recovering from a hamstring injury that he picked up in pre-season training.

Cini is progressing well but will not make the start line next month, with the Round Two clash against Toulouse a more realistic target for his return.

However, the Tigers do have a boost on the horizon with Krystian Mapapalangi heading to England after signing a two-year deal with the club. He will now almost certainly start against Wigan in three weeks’ time.

But the prognosis on Valemei will be fascinating, as Castleford wait to discover the damage done to one of their major off-season recruits going into the 2026 campaign.