Lee Radford impressed with Castleford progress

New Castleford Head Coach Lee Radford has said he has been impressed with the way his side have progressed in pre-season.

Radford took the role on ahead of the new season, after Daryl Powell departed the club after eight years in charge. He has since taken the vacant role at Warrington.

The 42-year-old has made a return to rugby league after coaching rugby union in America. He went over there following his sacking by Hull FC in March 2020.

On his new team, Radford told Castleford’s club website:“I honestly think as a group they’ve gone really well. I think what has happened is over the last couple of weeks as we’ve gone into more football stuff the gap has probably grown a little, you can see some of the difference in players.

“As a coach, that is then for us to put some programmes in place to try and make that gap smaller. But like I said they all bring the main ingredients. Which is their energy, they’re bouncing in a morning and that gives you something to work for every day.”

Radford talks up Castleford friendly opponents

Ahead of the new season, the Tigers will play in two friendlies against lower league opposition.

Firstly, they make the trip to the LNER Community Stadium to take on York. They then travel to South Yorkshire a week later to face Doncaster.

On their opponents, Radford added: “We are limited in terms of fixtures, so we’ll be going strong on both fixtures.

“The grounds in which we’ll be playing are fantastic surfaces and good stadiums and I’m really looking forward to them.

“I’m sure those games will throw some questions up to us as a coaching staff, and something else or a direction to work on for the remainder of pre-season.”

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