Dons victory leaves Radford excited for Round One

Following an impressive victory over York City Knights last week, the Tigers faced League One opponents Doncaster who admirably battled until the final whistle. The Fords came away with a 66-18 victory but again, Radford was keen to praise the youngsters and walk away without any major injury concerns.

“Again, we got a hit out and hopefully no injuries. Kenny (Edwards) came off with a slight caution but nothing too drastic. A great opportunity for our young blokes in the second half of which a lot of them will feature in the reserves squad throughout the year.

“Jack Sadler jumped in at nine in the second half. We’ve not had the luxury of playing him at nine throughout the pre-season due to the numbers we’ve had in training and Macca (Paul McShane) going down has affected our selection in that area. As for George Collins, he is showing something to work with.

“All of the young blokes can build on today moving forward but one or two of them I was really impressed with.”

Castleford managed eleven tries in total against the Dons with eight of those in the first half. It was a powerful left edge performance from Mahe Fonua and Derrell Olpherts in the first forty, where three of the eight tries were executed.

Dazzling centre Fonua is a player the Fords faithful are excited to watch this season and Radford has been equally as chuffed with his display in pre-season.

“I watched some Super League highlights that my lad showed me on social media of Fonua’s hits that he had pulled off in 2016/17, and I thought where has he gone!

“Mahe looks fit, he looks like he’s enjoying it again and playing with a smile on his face. Hopefully we will see the best of him this year.”

Admittedly, it was not the shiniest of performances from the Tigers, but Radford wanted to focus on the positives and left pleased each player got a fair runout. 

“We definitely could have had a few more tries today. I thought we were a little bit loose and lateral with the ball at times. But what is really difficult in these games is when you’ve got your hands free constantly, you’re affording to push the pass because there are no consequences sometimes. The higher you go up, the more you push the pass and lose the ball, the more you concede unfortunately.

“We knew it was going to be difficult. We had thirty-one players to make sure that everybody got the right amount of game time which was a logistical nightmare. I think we pulled it off and we’ve come away from it with no knocks. Hopefully it has got the back of the throats of a few of the players burning with the cold air!”

Cas were subject to two blistering forty-yard sprints to the try line through Alex Sutcliffe and Jason Qareqare who demonstrated the range of pace evident in the squad. But it was Niall Evalds who caught the eye of the Head Coach with his electric pace, following his explosive bursts in the game.

“Having coached against him (Niall) for a number of years, he’s surprised me as to how good he is. I had amongst the elite fullbacks in the competition, but he has probably surpassed that for me.

“I think it’s from working with him I’ve noticed the detail in his game and how hard he works, but also what he is like around the players particularly the young blokes who play in his position. He is fantastic off the field and I’ve been really impressed with him since coming in.”

Radford has continuously praised the efforts made by his squad across the pre-season, and leadership of the younger players has been one aspect the Head Coach raised as a huge positive, particularly from Kenny Edwards.

“I think what has really impressed me with Kenny is when the young blokes have made a mistake, he has been really strong with them and jumped into them. Rather than jumping into them and walking off the field, as soon as the session is finished, he’s rounding those blokes up and going through stuff with them and working on it.

“That is leadership qualities and invaluable for our young players.”

In closing, Radford looked ahead to the Super League season opener against Salford and the preparations for the squad between now and then.

“We’ve got a fortnight now to get everything finalised and make sure we are raring to go for Round One. I’m really looking forward to it.”