Craig Lingard to name strong Castleford Tigers side for Keighley Cougars friendly as he details approach

The trip to Cougar Park is the first of three scheduled friendlies for the Tigers before their Super League opener against Wigan Warriors in mid-February.

After hosting London Broncos next Sunday, Lingard's team will round off their preparations with a visit from Huddersfield Giants on February 4.

Coaches tend to wrap their senior players in cotton wool during pre-season but the new-look Tigers are determined to hit the ground running in 2024, led by captain Paul McShane following a long spell on the sidelines.

"He's chomping at the bit to play because it's a while since he's been on the field," said Lingard, who stepped up from his role as an assistant at the end of last season.

"All the senior guys are wanting to play as many minutes as possible because they want to start building those connections that they're going to be working with through the season.

"The first block of training we've done has all been about building togetherness by working hard and putting them through some difficult situations. We've not done a massive amount of 13 on 13 stuff as yet so we need to start upping the combinations in this five-week block before the first game against Wigan.

"Two new wingers have come in, two new centres, three new back-rowers and we effectively have a new half-back pairing so those edge players need to start building combinations.

"We've got to be conscious of the weather forecast as well. They're talking about snow coming. You can have three friendlies and might only get one in depending on what the weather is going to be like."

Half-back Danny Richardson, who missed the entire 2023 campaign with a serious knee injury, will be given an extra week of training before making his long-awaited comeback.

Lingard intends to use a squad of 21 or 22 against Keighley to ensure it is a worthwhile exercise for all involved.

"We had a bit of a run-out, a non-contact session against York last Saturday and it was difficult to get all the middles enough minutes," he said.

"Rather than chuck everyone in, I'm going to run with six middles and make sure they get plenty of minutes. The ones that don't play this week will play next week.

"We've got certain positions where we've got a bit of cover and certain positions where we haven't got a great deal of cover. We've got five back-rowers, four hookers and nine or 10 middles so we've got to make sure we're not putting too many in those positions.

"We're aiming for the next friendly for Danny Richardson so we've only got two out-and-out half-backs. We've only got three out-and-out wingers and three out-and-out centres so all those guys will play and we'll rotate them."

Castleford supporters travelling to Cougar Park may have to wait for their first glimpses of Elie El-Zakhem and Sam Wood but fellow new signing Nixon Putt is on course to feature despite a minor setback.

"I'm looking at playing Nixon at some point during the game," said Lingard. "Whether he starts or comes off the bench, I'm hoping to get him some minutes.

"He's had a couple of people step on his toe so has had a bit of an issue with a blood blister. He had that drained out and trained fully on Monday.

"I can't see there being any issues but we'll assess that as the week goes on."

On his casualty list, which is headed by long-term absentees Sylvester Namo and Will Tate, Lingard added: "Elie El-Zakhem has had a bit of an issue with his knee this week.

"It's swelled up and he's not been training so we're not going to push him.

"Sam Wood pulled out at the end of training on Monday after tweaking his groin a little bit. He wants to play but we're not going to play him unless he's 100 per cent.

"Albert Vete is still not back to full training as yet. He's started light running on the field but hasn't done any team work so I don't think we'll be seeing him in any of the friendlies unless he makes a rapid recovery.

"Brad Martin has a bit of a niggle so we probably won't risk him this week either."

Castleford's squad has been overhauled in the wake of last season's brush with relegation.

Lingard recognises the importance of a profitable pre-season, if not necessarily from a scoreboard perspective.

"Friendlies are strange ones," he said. "You look at some reactions from fans and if you've not beaten a team by a certain amount of points, it's the end of the world.

"What we're looking at from a coaching point of view is that the combinations are there and we're getting to grips with how we want to play.

“For us more than any other team, we need a positive outcome, more how we deal with certain situations like defending our own goal line because too many times last year it was too easy to score against us.

"Hopefully you get 70 per cent of what you want and 30 per cent worth of improvements, otherwise you get a false sense of security of where you are."