Hull KR target Niall Evalds set to leave Castleford Tigers, confirms Andy Last

The full-back is on KR's radar as he approaches the end of his Castleford contract, with Willie Peters confirming the club's interest on Wednesday.

Evalds, who has made just 17 appearances in the past 18 months, is currently sidelined with a long-term pectoral injury and may not play again this season.

"It's a tough one with Niall," said Last.

"We haven't seen the best of him in the two years that I've been on board from a first-team coaching point of view.

"We're not in a position at this moment to make him an offer because he's not playing.

"We need to make sure we cut our cloth accordingly and spend our budget. At the moment, the fact that he's not playing makes it difficult to put a strong case forward to say we're going to make X amount of money available for him."

Last stressed that Castleford are working to the same budget for next year with a focus on bringing players in line with their true value.

He is determined to avoid repeating past mistakes at Wheldon Road.

"It's basically making sure we get the right players on the right salaries," added Last.

"What we don't want to do is have players on overinflated salaries and not delivering on performance week in, week out.

"We want to make sure we get full value from our cap, which we probably haven't done this season.

"That's why we're being very, very diligent and making sure we make the correct moves."

Meanwhile, Last dismissed talk linking Castleford with a move for Jamie Shaul – a player he worked with at Hull FC – as "way off the mark".