Castleford Tigers awarded elite academy licence as Rob Nickolay details improvements and names next cabs off rank

The Tigers – together with Hull KR and Bradford Bulls – were initially denied an elite licence by the Rugby Football League in May 2021, throwing the future of the club's academy into doubt.

Following a backlash, Castleford were granted a probationary licence which has now been extended until the end of the 2027 season after convincing the RFL that they meet the necessary standards.

For Nickolay, who originally joined the Tigers last September as education and development manager, there is some disappointment that the club had to settle for a 'good' grading.

"The way the accreditation works is they grade you in four areas: leadership and management, meeting the needs of the players, facilities etc, and player productivity," he told The Yorkshire Post.

"So over the last five years – from 2016 to 2021, before we came into post – the players that have gone on to make Super League debuts under the age of 25.

"We scored fairly poorly on that as a club so that requires improvement. It pulls us back into that 'good' bracket for our awaited scoring.

"What we can control we've got outstanding in. What we need to control in the future is making sure more players come through.

"We've got that fire in the belly to kick on from here. This only gets us to a starting point with our academy licence back."

The original decision rocked the club and sparked soul-searching from top to bottom.

Castleford have come through the other side stronger for the experience.

"There have been so many changes and sleepless nights because there was a hell of a lot of work that needed to be done," said Nickolay.

"It's no secret that we had to change some of the staffing to meet the requirements so some tough decisions and conversations had to be had there.

"The academy here has never had a full-time offering before. It's always been an evening programme. It's hard to get players through when they're working through the day on building sites and they're expected to come in and forge a second career trying to be a professional rugby player.

"One of the biggest changes is that we've now got full-time programmes. We've got 30 lads that train during the day and follow similar programmes to the first team. We'd like to think that accelerates things."

Castleford is a hotbed of rugby league but, like many areas across the country, they have seen talent slip through the net.

Under Nickolay, the club have been proactive in their academy recruitment.

"That talent is only going to blossom if you're watering your own garden," said Nickolay.

"We can't just expect those players to pop up. We need to be active in the community and work with community coaches to develop those players and drive participation.

"We want to find young players some space on our pathway here. We've reengaged with the community and got face to face with the clubs to find out what we've maybe not done right in the past.

"We've got to make sure we're an attractive proposition to any young person.

"I want any young person locally to want to come to join Castleford. We've got to make sure we're first in that conversation – and that's through actions. We need to bring our pathway to life so they can see the journey they could have with us."

While there is an understandable focus on snapping up the best young talent the area has to offer, the Tigers are casting a wide net.

"We're going to go for the best players as well," added Nickolay.

"Just this year, we signed seven lads from National Cup finalists Hull Dockers. That was quite a big coup for us because all seven were touted to go to Hull FC or Hull KR.

"We turned their heads. There are two or three players that were odds-on to go to Leeds that we managed to prise away as well.

"For too long, we weren't the first club at the table and assumed these players would go to another club. We should be making sure we get the best talent.

"The fact we're attracting players from all over the country is a testament to the staff and pathway that we're starting to put in place."

Nickolay is conscious that all the hard work put in by the academy staff would count for little without the support of the first-team head coach.

In Lee Radford, Castleford have someone who is willing to go above and beyond to usher young players into Super League.

"He's been banging the door down for lads to progress and be in the first-team environment," said Nickolay.

"Last year was a bit of a transitional year for us but he's so passionate and enthusiastic about the youth performance side of things so we'll soon get that number up.

"He'll coach the first team in the morning and then helps coach the academy. That's the benefit the boys have got of being full-time and training during the day."

Although the Tigers have made huge strides in a short period of time, the ultimate goal is to have a core of academy products in the first team.

There are green shoots of progress on that front.

"We've got some young boys who have just pushed up into the first team: Aaron Willis, George Hill, Hugo Nikhata," said Nickolay.

"This week two of our younger lads, Woody Walker and Alfie Dean, that are part of our college programme have gone into the first team.

"We're certainly starting to see some players pushing through."