Lee Radford excited by ‘freakishly athletic’ new signing

Josh McAllister

Castleford boss Lee Radford didn’t know what to expect when new signing Jake Mamo first arrived at the training ground.

The former NRL utility-back made the move to the Tigers during the off-season from Warrington.

Castleford marks his third Super League club since making the switch from Australia, linking up with Radford at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle. 

One of the characters of the game, Mamo impressed in 2021 at the Wolves and the move to West Yorkshire caught the eye of plenty. 

He scored 16 tries last season, and Radford says he has enjoyed coaching the talented centre so far.

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Lee Radford praises Jake Mamo

“He’s been fantastic,” Radford said on Mamo.

“He’s been a pleasure to coach. 

“I like him, I like what he’s about. He’s a good natured bloke. He’s constantly smiling. 

“He is one of those blokes that bring a bit of energy to the room and into their environment. 

“He is freakishly athletic in what he does at training and I think rather than a structured player, he’s more of an instinctive player. I think you can see that in what he does. 

“Any ball on the ground, any loose ball, we talked about intercepts and he seems to be all over those. I genuinely didn’t know what to expect, but I’ve been really impressed to what’s come through the door.”

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Two new signings at Castleford

Radford also confirmed the signings of youngsters George Collins and Ryan Morley. 

“They’ve been in this week just to allow us to get that 13 on 13.

“We’ve promoted a few before Christmas, and what’s tended to happen is that they’ve gone from training three nights a week, almost part time and in the college programme, to jumping in with us.

“They’ve gone from running seven kilometres to 24 and a couple of them have broke down along the way!

“Getting them in a full time environment moving forward is important and getting them on the college programmes moving forward is important as well.”

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