Castleford Tigers are in “no rush” to complete recruitment for 2026 and it could still be on-going when new coach Ryan Carr arrives in November.
Tigers, who close a miserable Super League campaign with a visit to St Helens tomorrow (Friday), have already announced several signings, including Blake Taaffe (from Canterbury Bulldogs), Semi Valemei (North Queensland Cowboys), Mikaele Ravalawa (St George-Illawarra Dragons), Brock Greacen (Newcastle Knights) and Jordan Lane (Hull FC).
But director of rugby Chris Chester, who will step down as interim-coach after this week’s game, confirmed recruitment might not be finished when pre-season begins in two months’ time.
“It may linger on,” he said at his weekly preview press conference today. “There’s lots of things happening behind the scenes in terms of recruitment. We’re talking to agents here and overseas and we’re not in any particular rush.
“We’ve still got significant salary cap space we are going to use. I like a bargain and if there’s a few bargains out there, I want to be in the market for them.
“It is daily, you’re constantly getting emails and phone calls from agents and we’ll just look at what’s available.
We certainly won’t be rushing into anything. There will be more announcements over the coming weeks of players we’ve signed and we’ll see what happens after that.
“Ryan has identified a few players he’d like to bring into the club and it’s my job to try and give him the players to be successful next year.”
Castleford Tigers team news
Meanwhile, centre Zac Cini will return from a facial injury against Saints, but winger Jason Qareqare won’t be risked despite being named in Tigers’ 21-man squad.
Qareqare’s only Super League appearance this year was in a defeat at Wakefield Trinity in April, when he scored a brace of tries but suffered a hamstring injury on his return from a similar issue.
Chester said: “We’ve decided against it, the risk far outweighs the reward. With his previous hamstring injuries and history we felt it was best, for the sake of one game, just to leave him and make sure he has a full pre-season with us.”