Castleford Tigers boss Craig Lingard discusses 2024 aim, recruitment and Liam Watts' contract

Lingard's men have taken 11 points from as many games to leave the Tigers just one shy of their 2023 tally with 10 matches still to play.

Castleford head into Sunday's home clash with Catalans Dragons in 10th place but with Huddersfield Giants and Leigh Leopards in their sights.

"Let's go back to the start of the season when we'd reduced the budget considerably and were massively down on Super League experience and even first-team experience," said Lingard.

"We set off this season saying that if we could have a better season than last season, that would be a real success for us.

"The ultimate aim for us would have been to finish top of the bottom four. That's not us being defeatist or disrespectful; it was just being honest about where we were.

"There's an opportunity for us to do that now and potentially do even better than that as well.

"We're certainly looking at winning as many games as we can to try to claw in a few teams above us. There's a bit of daylight between ourselves and Hull and London below us so we're now looking up rather than down.

"We've got Leigh to play twice, Huddersfield to play and Salford to play so we've got an opportunity to pick up some points but we've got to maintain our performances."

Lingard has formed a strong connection with the supporters since taking over at the end of last year, helping to create a positive atmosphere at Wheldon Road.

The Castleford boss is beginning to see the benefits in the recruitment market as the club continue to plan for another season in Super League.

"When we first started talking to players about next year and beyond, the first question everyone asked was: what about IMG and Super League?" said Lingard, who confirmed the club's interest in Parramatta Eels centre Zac Cini.

"We've pushed the narrative and the belief that we're really, really confident that we're going to be in Super League next year. There's no two ways about it as far as we're concerned.

"That message has got out to the wider rugby league world and I don't think there's too many concerns about Castleford not being in Super League from the conversations that we're now having.

"It's certainly helped in the talks we're having with people and the retentions as well. We need to make sure we're maintaining that effort and performance on the field to show external players that we're a good group to join.

"We're not a million miles away from finalising the squad for next year. There might be three or four people that come in but that depends on finances and whether people move on. It's a little bit like a game of chess."

Castleford recently announced a raft of contract renewals but Liam Watts is one of the players still waiting to discover whether he will be at Wheldon Road next year.

Lingard has revealed the veteran prop is close to triggering an option in his deal based on games played in 2024.

"I think he's maybe three or four off," said Lingard.

"He's not too far off and should he continue to play like he has done so far he'll trigger that.

"I think he's played really well and the stuff he does off the field is very, very good. Certainly for me as a head coach starting this year at Castleford Tigers he's been first class."