Castleford Tigers are still “wheeling and dealing” ahead of the 2026 season with more players set to join the squad assembled for new head coach Ryan Carr.
There will be more leaving in the next month as well as arriving as room is made to bring in the final pieces of the jigsaw being put together by Carr and director of rugby Chris Chester.
The first of the players to depart appears to be Australian full-back Tex Hoy with reports emerging that has not returned for this week’s start of pre-season training, although there has been no confirmation from the club
Two of the younger players in the squad, hooker Cain Robb and forward Sam Hall, are also believed to have been made available to other clubs.
At his first press conference as head coach Carr said there were more arrivals to come while Chester explained where the club is at presently.
He said: “There’s still a bit more recruitment to be done. There are some players that we’ve identified at other clubs that we want to try and bring in.
“I would say there’s going to be a few people that will walk out the door as well.
“It’s ongoing. We still want to freshen the squad up. We’ve got 11 or 12 new players and that might be 13 or 14 new players in the next couple of weeks.
“That’s up to me to sort out and work on behind the scenes. I know I’ve got the right man for the job to bring that group of players together.
“It’s my job to make sure I provide him with the personnel for us to achieve our goals.”
Chester identified particular positions he was looking at strengthening, but all areas of the team were being examined.
He added: “We’re looking at all positions. We just want to bring people in who will improve this team. That’s the key to it all.
“We’re looking at an outside back and another middle. They’re few and far between at the moment, but we’re hopeful that in the next two to three weeks, there will be a little bit of movement in the playing squad.
“But I’m more than happy with the squad we’ve put together and more than happy with the squad going into the 2026 season if there’s no more changes. But we want to try and freshen it up a little bit and we’re working on that in the background.”
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