Castleford Tigers head coach Danny McGuire insists his side are now starting to look up the table, as hopes turn towards a possible play-off push.
The West Yorkshire outfit currently sit 10th in the table heading into their round 15 clash against Hull KR, but they find themselves just two points behind ninth-placed Catalans Dragons and four points behind Challenge Cup finalists Warrington Wolves in eighth.
McGuire’s side have also won two of their past four games, including last weekend’s 22-14 win over Hull FC, and face bottom sides Salford Red Devils and Huddersfield Giants in this upcoming four-game block.
The Fords began the season in rotten form, losing their first four games in all competitions, including the Challenge Cup clash against Bradford Bulls, but have since gone onto win four Super League games in the time since, which has got McGuire hoping they can start to look up the table rather than down.
“That’s the challenge, that’s what we’re after,” he said. “We’ve identified this block of six games as being important for us, we play some good sides and will face some good challenges. We’re looking up.
“We want to perform, we want to win and challenge some teams that are at the top of the table. We’re looking up, I’m not going to say we’re not.
“We want to try and push and finish as high as possible. We set a target at the start of the year that we need to achieve, so we’re after some wins and performances and we get a good chance to see where we’re at against a good team in Hull KR.
Should their form continue, Castleford are also on course to beat last season’s points total of 15, which was in itself a progression from the 2023 season where they finished with 12 points, but the new boss is still not content with just beating that tally.
“We want to be higher, I feel; what we did last year was last year. We want to find some consistency, challenge, play well every week and create competition within the squad, which we’re creating.
We’re in a good place, but we’re not getting ahead of ourselves. There’s a lot of hard work in front of us.”
While McGuire is happy about the trajectory of his side over recent weeks, home form continues to be a slight issue for the Fords. So far this season, Castleford have won just two of their seven home games (28%), compared to two wins from six away games (not including Magic Weekend), but with them returning to the Jungle for the first time since late May, McGuire is determined to give his supporters something to cheer tonight.
“The fans are really big for us, but we haven’t rewarded them enough this year,” he admitted. “We’ve not given them something to cheer about enough at home, and that’s the challenge against KR. “We’ve been in some contests and we’ve done some really good things but we’re going to need them behind us again, like they were at Hull last week.
“The Cas fans are loud and proud, and the ones I speak to just want to see the players committing and giving everything, and I think they got that on Friday (against Hull FC). When you do that as a team, you get what you deserve in the results, and even if you leave everything out there and you lose, you can take it. That’s what the fans are after.”
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