Castleford Tigers add two new coaches to their rosta

The Wheldon Road club has recruited England Community Lions coach Rob Nickolay as their education and development manager as well.

England Academy coach Wilson, 39, has worked at Hull for almost a decade - much of that time alongside Radford - and has been the key influence in their centre of excellence overseeing the development of the club’s youngsters.

He will be heavily involved with Castleford’s coaching, youth, and pathways programmes alongside the Castleford Tigers Foundation to nurture talent in various areas of the club.

Wilson said: “I’m really excited for the opportunity to come to Castleford Tigers.

“I know what Castleford is all about and I’m really looking forward to joining, sharing my experience and making an impact.

“With Lee Radford coming as Head Coach and all the other good people that work there, it’s really exciting what the future will hold.

“Lee is a fantastic bloke and is very loyal. He’s an unbelievable coach and you can see that in the success he had at Hull.

“He is very astute at what he does, and I have come to work with him because I know what he is capable of.”

Wilson added: “My experience is more with the Academy and youth in the national programmes, so to work with Lee in the first-team regularly will be a massive development process for me.”

Nickolay, meanwhile, is considered one of the most respected coach educators in rugby league in this country, with a wealth of experience from Hull KR and FC.

Like Wilson, he will work closely alongside Darren Higgins, Castleford’s head of youth performance to expand the growing player and development pathways.

“I’m really excited to get involved with such a great, historic club,” he said.

“It’s exciting to see the direction and the way that the club is going, it’s like we are on the cusp of something, and it will be a great journey, I’m sure.

“Working with some great people who I’ve worked firsthand with such as Danny & Lee was part of the attraction to join, the passion they bring to their roles is something that made it an easy decision for me.

“Ultimately, I will be linking between the Foundation and the Academy to make sure there is a pathway for our players to come through at all levels, both male and female. That pathway is making sure we have got something sustainable and that we can be producing not just talented players but talented people to work within the club and community and help push the Tigers forward.”

On the duo’s appointments, Radford said: “I’m really pleased.

“Danny is incredibly articulate, an academic, a man highly respected in the game.

“The work Danny has done at youth level has contributed to a lot of young lads coming through and playing Super League. “His organisational skills are second to none, which will help me massively.

“As a great coach it will be a terrific challenge for him, and one he will be comfortable with I’m certain.

“Rob is very similar - from an academic background - and he has done a great job in building the Foundation and the Academy at Hull as well as the City of Hull Academy, too.#

“I saw his work first-hand. The amateur game within the city has got great links with the professional clubs, and Rob was very influential in organising a lot of that.

“One of the things I wanted to do moving forward was to put a lot of emphasis on our youth and youth development. With earlier in the year Cas not being given an elite licence, there is a need to grow there and that will be hugely important.

“We want to produce as many young kids coming through the ranks as we possibly can.

“Both Rob and Danny are going to be highly influential in that. “The work we are going to be doing with the amateur clubs in and around the area will be assisting a lot of the good work Darren Higgins has done as well.”