Sky Sports pundit Jon Wilkin has pulled no punches when hitting out at Castleford Tigers following their loss to Hull KR with the recent recruitment heavily criticised. The Tigers scored a late try through Kristian Mapapalangi to offer some consolation as they lost 50-6 to Hull KR on Thursday night though the game was lost in the first half as Castleford folded and conceded six tries.
It means the Tigers have shipped 50 points in back-to-back weeks, having also conceded 72 against Warrington and 34 at home to local rivals Wakefield Trinity. Those results have been mixed in along the way with impressive wins over Bradford, Huddersfield and Wigan with Wilkin highlighting the lack of consistency.
Put to him that Castleford had signed 13 players in their bid to improve from a sorry 2025 season, Wilkin snapped back: “It doesn’t mean they’re good. You’ve just quoted a number of players. I’m saying they’re not the right quality for them to be a good team in this competition.
“Chris Chester came in to focus on recruitment, right? And they’ve signed a lot of players who aren’t delivering. It’s a lack of consistency.”
He then went further in his criticism of the players, stating: “They can deliver when everything’s a fair wind, and everything’s going in their favour and the other team has a day off, but as soon as a team shows up against them, they throw in the towel.”
Castleford Tigers urged to implement long-term recruitment plan
Despite personnel changes being made in the build-up to Thursday’s game against Hull KR, namely the permanent signings of Tyler Dupree and Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e, Wilkin said more needs to change and that means a long-term plan around recruitment.
Wilkin said: “Whatever you do with that, you need to change that. I think the change that Ryan Carr speaks of is around personnel, is around recruitment.
“Danny McGuire lost his job because he couldn’t get a tune out of a team of players, and we’re in a situation now where we’ve changed the players, and they still can’t get a tune out of them.
“I suggest it needs a real long-term strategic think about who you recruit and why.”
Wilkin also offered a defence of Ryan Carr as he continued to highlight the need for player accountability but also improved recruitment.
The pundit said: “I’m going to quote a former colleague, Phil Clarke. I remember one of the things he said was, ‘coaches get way too much credit when things are going well. They get criticised too heavily when things aren’t.’
“I don’t think Ryan Carr’s the issue at Castleford. Now, he might be. We don’t work with him. We’re not inside those four walls of the dressing room, but I’ll tell you this, they need to strategically recruit in a better way, longer-term thinking, and really do their due diligence.
“(Krystian) Mapapalangi is the one that stands out, that’s really come good for them. They’ve been unlucky to some extent. Blake Taaffe, injured, which is difficult to deal with. I think they need more depth. It’s certainly a project, isn’t it?”
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