Matterson agrees Cas extension

Castleford coach Terry Matterson has agreed a two-year extension to his deal at The Jungle.

Matterson, 42, joined the club from Canberra in 2005 and will now remain with the Tigers until at least the end of 2011.

Although the club were relegated in Matterson’s first season, they stuck by him, and he guided them back to the top flight at the first attempt in 2007, defeating Widnes 42-10 in the National League 1 Grand Final.

Matterson said: “I am really pleased. We’ve come a long way this year, even though we’re in a bit of a hole at the moment.

“I just want to continue the work that we’ve done. There are a lot of good things happening here.

“The kids are coming through, which is an area that I have worked very hard at, and it is especially pleasing to see their development.

“We had two of our guys in the England squad last week and potential recruits can see that they can come to Cas and play representative football.

“My aims are to take the club into a position where we are consistently in the top eight and from there we can look to make a challenge in the play-offs.”

After a solid start to the season, Castleford have lost their last four games. They finished bottom of the pile last season, in their first year since promotion, but weren’t relegated following the introduction of the new licensing system.

Castleford chief executive Richard Wright said: “We are pleased that Terry has now signed this new contract and we can focus on the top eight and recruitment for next year.”