Castleford Tigers: Bailey could make Tigers debut at Salford – Powell

The club confirmed the signing of the former Leeds Rhinos and Great Britain prop earlier this week after he left Hull KR last month, having played just one game for the Robins.

Bailey, 31, cited personal difficulties when asked to be released from his three-year deal there having to struggled to adjust after previously spending his entire career with hometown Leeds.

But he has trained with Castleford for the first time today and Powell - who gave the controversial front-row his senior debut in 2002 when in charge at Headingley - is confident he is ready to return to Super League action.

Asked if Bailey will make his bow, the coach said: “I’m not sure yet.

“Obviously it’s the first time he’s trained today so we’ll have a look at him later in the week.

“We’ll probably give him a couple of weeks to settle in with us but you never know.

“He looks okay. He looks in good nick. He did a little bit with our conditioner yesterday sand trained pretty hard today. He doesn’t look too bad.

“Getting in tine with our calls and understanding the plays is another thing so we could leave it a bit longer but sitting down with him and seeing what his motivation is I think he has a lot of that.

“It’s not to prove people wrong as suuch but he came out of Leeds after a long time and this is a good opportunity to settle into a new place and really enjoy himself again.”