Castleford Tigers - Super League 2025 Preview and Prediction - video Dailymotion

Yorkshire Post

The Yorkshire Post's rugby league writer James O'Brien looks ahead to Castleford Tigers' 2025 campaign in Super League, picking out reasons for optimism, areas of concern, key players and a predicted finish

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00:00There's a lot of good things going on behind the scenes at Cass. There's probably not a

00:17great deal to look forward to for the fans on the field. They've got a squad that's probably

00:21ill-equipped for Super League, certainly the pack is lightweight, but there are a lot of

00:25good things going on away from the spotlight. In the background, Martin Jepsen's getting

00:30to grips with the club, so I think they've got a bright future. It just might be a bit

00:35more short-term pain this season, but I think the future is bright.

00:43I've just touched on the pack. It's very lightweight for Super League or even the Championship,

00:49as we saw in the cup tie. They got blown away in the first half by Bradford, a part-time

00:54team, albeit a very strong side, probably the favourites for the Championship. But it

00:58just showed that Cass are really going to struggle to make metres to stop the other

01:02side making metres. If you can't do that, if you've got no go forward, you're going

01:08to struggle. The players that brought in Dejan Arsene, the likes of those guys, they're going

01:15to struggle if they don't have the field position to work with, so that's a big area of concern

01:20for Cassford.

01:25The key man is probably Dejan Arsene. He's come over from Parramatta. He's struggled

01:32to get to grips with the English game so far. It's only a very short sample size and, as

01:37I say, he's playing behind with a beaten pack, so it is tough for him. It'll take him a while

01:41to adjust to Super League, the game over here in England. But when the pitches dry out in

01:47the summer, he's probably Cassford's best bet of winning some games and getting them

01:53up the table. But, like I say, he might struggle unless Cassford bring in a few reinforcements

01:58in the pack.

02:03I have predicted Cassford's finish bottom. I didn't take any joy in doing that. Whereas

02:10previous seasons there's been, aside an obvious Wooden Spoonist, there isn't one this season.

02:16There's no London, there's no Toulouse. So it's going to be one of those bigger clubs

02:22who are going to finish bottom. I just think Cass, whereas Huddersfield, you can see them

02:27winning games. They've got a decent pack, they've got Joan Cartwright coming in. He's

02:32got a presence about him as a coach. But just for Cassford with their pack, I just can't

02:36see them winning as many games as those other sides.

Castleford Tigers - Super League 2025 Preview and Prediction

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