Luke Dorn is determined to bow out on a high with Castleford Tigers

Luke Dorn nelieves Castleford Tigers can overhaul a seven-point deficit to reach the last four.

The Australian full-back, 34, will retire from first-grade football at the end of the season and head home after a brilliant career in the UK.

Castleford sit sixth ahead of Friday’s Super 8s opener at leaders Hull FC and, in all honesty, few envisage Daryl Powell’s side overhauling the seven-point deficit between them and fourth-placed St Helens to qualify for the semi-finals.

However, Dorn, in his second spell with the Tigers, told The Yorkshire Post: “We are under no pressure.

“That’s great for us; no-one thinks we’ll get near the four with the points differential we’ve got at the moment.

“But we’re confident in our ability, our processes and we think if we can get some personnel back on the park – which will be very handy – we could make a good run at it.

“For me, it’s great knowing my last games will be up against Super League’s finest.

“You want to play the best all the time and going to some of the grounds I really love – places like Hull, those big stadiums – it is a nice way to top it all off.

“Hopefully, we can do it with a run around over here (Old Trafford), too.”

Dorn, who will play for the Maitland Pumpkin Pickers in the New South Wales Hunter region back home, is relishing the chance to start work on making up ground when they head to Hull, who were in Challenge Cup semi-final action last night.

Castleford lost out 24-22 at home to Lee Radford’s side in June but won 31-24 at the KC Stadium in February.

“Why not get straight into the mix?” said the former Harlequins and Salford City Reds star, who has 10 tries in 14 games this year. “There’s no bigger challenge I suppose than playing the best team in the comp’ at the time and away from home, too.

“When we played them last time we had a good go at it and probably a little bit unlucky not to get a win at our place so, hopefully, we’ll go there and do that.”

While Dorn remains a master of the full-back role – there is arguably no-one better for positional play in Super League and his attacking quality is class – Hull boast one of the most exciting young No 1s in the sport in Jamie Shaul.

“He is a very good player and I have a lot of time for him,” said Dorn. “He’s going to be a top quality full-back for a long time.”