Castleford confirm Luke Gale will not be back this year

Drew Darbyshire 28 Aug 2019 8:04 AM

Castleford have confirmed star half-back Luke Gale will not return from injury in 2019.

The 31-year-old has not played a single game for the Tigers this year after rupturing his Achilles tendon in pre-season training.

Gale will continue his rehabilitation and start back full training in pre-season preparations for 2020.

Castleford head physiotherapist, Matt Crowther, said: “His injury was a nine months to a year sort of injury, and people forget that he’d not just ruptured his Achilles tendon but he had a patellofemoral joint issue as well.

“It was the same as Fozzy [Alex Foster]. It’s a double whammy for Luke but he’s doing really well with his rehab at the minute, it’s seven-and-a-half months down the line and he’s sprinting nearly at 90%.

“He’s not a million miles off but what needs to happen with Luke is once he’s back in training, he needs a couple of months of full training and doing the normal thing which he’s not done for at least 14 months.

“Even after getting him back from his previous injury, it was a push to get him fit for the semi-final last year, so he’ll definitely not be back for this year.

“A full pre-season will be perfect for him. He’ll come into that fully fit but following the severity of his injuries, we’ll have to look after him in pre-season but hopefully he’ll be fully fit.”