Chris Chester is confident Castleford Tigers will have a team to be much more proud of next year.
While he will admit he has found it tough to be the interim head coach at the club following the sacking of Danny McGuire, with his director of rugby hat back on Chester says there are plenty of grounds for optimism that there will be a big improvement in the next 12 months.
Along with new head coach Ryan Carr he has been tasked with a complete overhaul of the playing staff and a fresh approach to enable the Tigers to aim to compete better at the top level in Super League.
The days of Challenge Cup finals and a Grand Final appearance under the stewardship of Daryl Powell and Steve Gill are beginning to look like distant memories with the club getting nowhere near those levels for a number of years now. And Chester knows the overhaul is very necessary.
After the hugely disappointing 2025 season ended with a narrow defeat at St Helens, he said: “Hundred per cent there are reasons for optimism.
“The playing squad will look totally different, I know Ryan’s really excited about coming over in October and getting his teeth into a real tough pre-season and I’m looking forward to working with him as well.
“There’ll be complete change on and off the field, it’s probably needed.”
Castleford have already announced four additions to their first team for next season from down under with Jordan Lane also signed from Hull and more to come who have been playing for Super League rivals this year.
Chester says the recruitment is ongoing and the new head coach is getting involved.
He explained: “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.
“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.”
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