Castleford Tigers duo primed for injury return as Ryan Carr issues optimistic update

Castleford Tigers recruits Semi Valemei and Brock Greacen are ‘close’ to making their respective debuts for the club, with head coach Ryan Carr hopeful they could be fit for this weekend’s clash against Leeds Rhinos. 

The duo have yet to take to the field this year through injuries, even with Greacen being included in the wider 21-man squad for their trip to Toulouse, but they were not included in a recent injury update issued by the club, which suggests they are in contention for this Sunday’s West Yorkshire derby at Headingley.

Their returns to fitness will come as a welcome boost to Fords’ boss Carr, who has also lost Fletcher Rooney, Cain Robb, Louis Senior, Blake Taaffe and Alex Mellor to long-term issues.

‘It’s sort of a day-to-day proposition with both of them’

Speaking ahead of the game, Carr detailed it’s a ‘day-to-day’ situation with the pair, but remained hopeful of seeing them in the near future.

“They’re both close, actually,” he said. “They’re both really close. It’s sort of a day-to-day proposition with both of them.

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“If not this week, then we’ll be hopeful for next week. It’s just how they feel and how they pull up after training, and making sure we do the right thing by them with it being so early in the season.

But, even with his key recruits coming back into contention, Carr will not make widespread changes to his 21-man squad, or even his match-day 17, following Castleford’s impressive 34-8 win over Huddersfield Giants in round three.

“We’re hopeful of rolling a very similar 21 out,” the head coach said. “Which is the first time we’ve done that all pre-season or in-season.

“We’ve had to make changes each time we’ve played, which is what it is, but to try and get some consistency would be nice.”

A win for the Fords this weekend could see them climb as high as second, depending on results elsewhere.

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