McShane extends at Cas
Paul McShane has agreed to extend his stay at Castleford until at least 2019.
The hooker still had one year to run on his deal that he signed upon joining Castleford from neighbours, Wakefield Wildcats, in 2015.
Already in his career McShane has appeared in over 150 career games since making his debut for Leeds Rhinos back in 2009.
McShane found opportunities at Leeds hard to come by during his stay in the first-team, resulting in two loan spells, first to Hull FC in 2010 and then to Widnes Vikings in 2012.
In 2014, the hooker moved to Wakefield and quickly became one of the best players for the team.
Then in a swap deal that saw Scott Moore move to the Wildcats, McShane moved to Castleford just before the transfer deadline in 2015.
Last season, McShane was ever-present for the Tigers playing in 32 games while scoring seven tries.
He covered a number of roles for Castleford including halfback after injuries forced Daryl Powell to make some unorthodox changes to his team.
Upon signing his new contract, McShane said he was over the moon to be staying with Castleford.
“It’s a big thing for my family to be re-signing with the Tigers,” he said.
“My wife loves it at this club and that makes it a lot easier for me. From day one coming in midway through last year, I knew it was a club that was for me. The ways that people are around here is great.”
“You come in everyday with a group of good people and all they want to do is make you better and that’s throughout the coaches, players and everyone else at the club.
“Then you come to game day and you’ve got the fans. When you come to training sometimes at 7 or 8 in the morning you’re guaranteed to see a couple of Cas shirts walking round the streets and to have fans like that who back you as a team that much, it’s just something I want to be a part of.”
Castleford head coach, Daryl Powell is happy that McShane is staying with the Tigers: “Paul McShane has always been a very good player but I thought we started to see how good he can really be towards the middle and back end of last season.
“He is a natural ball player who understands the game very well. I have no doubt he is going to improve and although he has a host of competition at international level, I think he is one of the most natural hookers in rugby league and should strive to attain that level.
“I look forward to working with him during his extended contract and I’m delighted he wants to stay at the Tigers”
Tigers CEO, Steve Gill said: “Paul has become one of the fans favourites, and has been a key figure in our squad since joining us from Wakefield, I’m really pleased he has committed to the Tigers for a further two years.”