Shenton to be out for season

The Castleford Tigers 2016 aspirations have taken a massive blow with the news that captain Michael Shenton could be out for the entire season with an ACL injury.

Scans today have confirmed that Shenton has suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury during Sunday’s season opener at Hull KR.

The injury could see Shenton sidelined for the entire season and it’s a massive loss for head coach Daryl Powell and his team:

“It’s a massive blow for us and we now need to see a response from a few other players within our team,” Powell said.

“Our leadership is going to need to develop across a few players. These things happen, but it is pretty tough to take.”

The tackle by Rovers’ John Boudebza was put on report, and has been given a Grade B for dangerous contact, which could lead to a ban of one to two games. Daryl Powell doesn’t agree with the grading.

“It’s really disappointing the type of tackles that can do that to people are still in the game,” he said.

“There’s a job needs to be done in terms of dealing with that, but that is no consolation to Shenny or to us.”

Shenton is truly gutted to potentially be missing the whole 2016 season,” he said.

“Some of you will have already heard that my season has ended before it began with a knee injury sustained yesterday which is extremely frustrating for me.

Shenton added: “I’ve had a great pre-season and felt fresh coming into the season so to have it cut short from a reckless challenge is difficult for me to swallow but I’ll be doing all I can off the field to support the boys through this season.”

Shenton now faces surgery in the coming weeks and a long road ahead to recovery.