Craig Lingard stresses importance of togetherness as Castleford Tigers build towards pre-season camp

The Tigers have undergone major surgery in the off-season after a relegation scare with an ageing squad last year.

Eleven new signings have arrived to give Castleford a fresh look under a head coach at the start of his own journey as a Super League boss.

A younger Tigers outfit have been largely written off heading into the new campaign but Lingard is hoping team spirit is not a problem for his side, helped by a trip to Settle later this month.

"We're going up to a barn in North Yorkshire," he said.

"We've got two nights and three days up there. It's not going to be a rugby-based camp but a chance to spend some time with each other and build those bonds that will be really key during the season.

"It's equally as important as the stuff you do on the field. If you haven't got each other's backs off the field, you're not going to have each other's backs on the field.

"It's about building those connections and combinations as much off the field as on it.

"Every week we've had two or three team get togethers, whether it be a coffee, a feed or something else after training. It's building a togetherness."

A number of senior figures moved on as part of the overhaul, among them Nathan Massey, Gareth Widdop and Greg Eden.

The replacements include players desperate to establish themselves in Super League, from rookie centre Josh Hodson to the more experienced Rowan Milnes.

Lingard has seen that hunger to impress from the start of pre-season in November.

"We've got competition all the way across the park," he said.

"We've got three wingers that need to go into two, three centres that need to go into two, three half-backs that need to go into two, three nines that need to go into two, eight or nine middles that need to go into five or six, four or five back-rowers that need to go into two.

"One of the things we spoke about as a coaching group at the start was that there had to be an element of competition in pre-season.

"We've got to make sure we're competing in everything we do. We've been pushing that all pre-season."

The upcoming friendlies will provide opportunities for players to stake a claim to be in Lingard's side for Castleford's Super League opener against defending champions Wigan Warriors on February 17.

Lingard, whose team kick off 2024 at Keighley Cougars on Sunday week, has made no attempt to play down the importance of the trial games.

"We've been running 13 on 13 in training, moving people in and out," he said.

"We don't want the standard dropping down when people come in. That's exactly what we want to see in the pre-season friendlies.

"As coaches, we've sat down a few times to come up with our starting 17 and can't come up with an answer which shows that we've got a lot of people who are still pushing for a place.

"These pre-season friendlies will be massive."