Craig Lingard shares Castleford Tigers' long-term plan as they build towards play-offs

The next goal is to leapfrog Huddersfield Giants and claim ninth spot, which would box off phase one of their rebuild under Lingard.

"I don't think Castleford have had a plan for a number of years but we've got a plan and a way to try and achieve it," said the Tigers boss ahead of Friday's trip to Hull KR.

"We wanted to try and get to the top of the bottom four this season. If we could do that, next season we would look to finish between sixth and eighth, which gives you every chance of snagging that last play-off place.

"Come year three, that's when we want to seriously challenge to be a top-six team. If we are challenging to be a serious top-six team after that, finances change and you can start to look at bringing in more top-end players or marquee players.

"It's about steady progression year on year. We're in a microwave society where everyone wants something immediately but we've got to be patient.

"A lot of things have got to come to fruition for us to make sure we achieve the objectives we've set. We've certainly had a good start to our objectives."

Castleford have fallen short against Salford Red Devils and Leigh Leopards since going past last year's tally of 12 points.

Lingard recognises the importance of finishing this season on a high with the long-term plan in mind.

"Realistically for us, if we could have got more points than we did last season two or three weeks before the end of the season, that might have been more of a steady progression to say we are doing better than last season," he added.

"Because we got there nine games before the end of the season, we don't want to have a massive dip and finish on a negative; we want to keep moving forward and hopefully get at least another two or three victories, which means we've had a really good season compared to last year."

After taking over a team that flirted with relegation in 2023, Lingard has openly stated that the Tigers are following the blueprint that took Hull KR from wooden spoonists to genuine title contenders.

Lingard is hoping the visit to Craven Park is a window into Castleford's future.

"A few years back, they signed a lot of young players and players from the Championship who were inexperienced in Super League," he said.

"It took a little bit of time for that development to come through. Some of the players like Elliot Minchella have gone through that full journey with them and he is now playing at international level. Some players have come and gone but a lot of the players that started the journey are still there.

"They're probably three or four years further on from where we are at this moment in time but it just shows that if you follow that blueprint through, it can work.

"We haven't got the finances where we can go out and sign X-factor players for a quick fix; we've got to look at longevity and bringing people through that are going to be here longer term.

"Hopefully the journey we're on is the right one and we can see it through to the end."

Lingard will field makeshift centres after former KR player Corey Hall joined Sam Wood and Josh Hodson on the sidelines due to a concussion.

Alex Mellor and Luis Johnson, another ex-Robin, have been asked to play out of position as the Tigers look to win the energy battle against their high-flying hosts.

"A lot of these games at this stage of the season are decided based on who has the most energy," said Lingard.

"Let's not forget Hull KR are getting up for games week in, week out. They got up for an away trip to Warrington last week and sometimes when you get really high for a game, you might get a bit of a dip.

"I'm not expecting that but I've told the guys that if there's any sort of dip in their intensity, we need to make sure we're on it to take advantage of that."