Full-back Luke Hooley has been on loan at Championship side Bradford Bulls since March and that was recently extended until the end of this season. The 26-year-old joined Castleford from Leeds ahead of last term, having previously played in the lower divisions for Dewsbury Rams, Oldham and Batley Bulldogs.
He scored four tries in eight games for Rhinos and played 11 times for Castleford last year, touching down once, but has not featured in 2025. This is the final year of his Tigers deal and, speaking at his weekly preview press conference today (Thursday) ahead of Sunday’s visit of Salford Red Devils, Castleford coach Danny McGuire confirmed he is unlikely to play for them again.
“I’d probably say so,” McGuire admitted. “I am not 100 per cent on that at the minute. I’ve really enjoyed working with Luke, he’s a very good professional and a really good kid.
“He probably just couldn’t find a way in. Tex [Hoy] has been really good since he came to the club and we’ve got one of the best young full-backs in the game on our books, in Fletcher Rooney.
“Out of respect for Luke, we let him go to Bradford. He wants to play and at his age, he needs to play every week. I think he is doing a really good job there and he potentially will stay there longer-term, I’d think. I wish him all the best.”
McGuire also said he does not expect prop Jordan Dezaria to return to Tigers from Catalans Dragons. He played for Tigers in their most recent game, against Wakefield Trinity at Magic Weekend two weeks ago, but was then recalled ahead of Catalans’ Betfred Challenge Cup semi-final defeat to Hull KR, though he didn’t feature in the 17.
Second-rower Jeremiah Simbiken remains on the long-term casualty list after undergoing surgery on a serious knee injury, but could be back on the field sooner than first feared. McGuire said: “He got better news after his operation, he may only be potentially eight-10 weeks rather than 16. That helps us a bit, but we are still a bit light in the back-row, so if anything came up, we’d probably look at that.”
McGuire will name his initial squad for Sunday’s game at noon tomorrow and said some changes are likely following the 32-8 hammering by Wakefield. Louis Senior and Sam Hall are both in contention after returning from injury in a reserves fixture last weekend and McGuire admitted: “I’ve got some selection issues this week.”
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