He is aware of the danger, but Castleford Tigers boss Ryan Carr won’t be committing all his resources to stopping Maika Sivo in tomorrow’s (Sunday) derby at Leeds Rhinos.
The Fijian international winger has scored six tries in two games for Leeds, including four during last Saturday’s 58-6 thrashing of Hull KR in Las Vegas, but Carr insists he is one threat among many. Carr knows Sivo well, having coached him at Parramatta Eels when he was an assistant to current Rhinos boss Brad Arthur – and reckons Tigers have their own Fijian dangerman on the flanks in Mikaele Ravalawa, a pre-season signing from Carr’s previous club St George-Illawarra Dragons.
“They are two powerful players,” Carr said of the ex-NRL duo. “I have coached both of them back home and they’ve had some really good battles in the past. Maika has started the season really well, he is a handful, but you can say that about their whole team – they have threats all over the park. We’ll be counting on Rava to do his job.”
Rhinos arrived back in England on Monday and Carr isn’t relying on jetlag and other effects of the long journey home from Nevada to aid his side. “They will be well-prepared, as they always are,” he warned.
“They are a good club, with a lot of good players. We are expecting as hard a performance as we’ve had all year, but we can’t control what version of Leeds turn up, all we can control is the version of us. We are just focused on that.”
Carr had a spell as assistant to then-Rhinos coach Richard Agar in 2019. He added: “There’ll be a few familiar faces, they are a good club and there’s a lot of good people there. I have a lot of respect for them, but they are our competition this week so we have to make sure we get our job done.
“It’s always a good atmosphere there. Hopefully we can see a heap of Cas people there and they make some noise and get behind the boys. The boys appreciate it and respond to that support.
“I’ve experienced this derby before and understand the enormity of the rivalry, but every game we play is a hard game in this competition and every team is hard to beat. You have to make sure you play well every week and get some consistency. I know it’s a big game in terms of the rivalry, but for me it is another opportunity for us to go there, play well and put back-to-back performances together.”
Tigers got off the mark in Betfred Super League with a 34-8 defeat of visitors Huddersfield Giants last weekend, when ex-Rhinos man Ashton Golding scored a try on debut. Carr admitted: “Winning makes everything better, but the process hasn’t changed whether the result goes our way or not.
“Our culture and the things we believe in haven’t changed. We are just trying to get some consistency in our club. It’s something that has probably plagued us as a club for the last few years. That’s something we have spoken about, but at the end of the day it is about our actions week to week now.”
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