Castleford Tigers’ Jake Trueman is glad to see the back of painful injury

Now, though, the only ‘back’ in the stand-off’s thoughts is getting back to the sport he loves and making his club tick once more.

Trueman, 22, has not played a competitive fixture since Castleford’s Challenge Cup final loss to St Helens in July – a game he now accepts he should never have taken part in given the severity of his chronic injury.

However, after a successful operation, one of Betfred Super League’s most gifted playmakers is ready to rediscover his scintillating best when the new season kicks-off next week.

That is a real fillip for Lee Radford, the former Hull FC coach who has taken over from Daryl Powell at Wheldon Road for 2022.

“It was a bit of a worry when I first had the injury and then it came back again,” said Trueman, in an exclusive interview with The Yorkshire Post.

“You do think the worst. You think you won’t get rid of it.

“I was relieved to get the operation and to get over it all. I am feeling good now. I can’t wait to start playing week in week out again. The back’s ready. And Radders has been really good with that.

“He hasn’t put pressure on me. We didn’t really speak about rugby too much initially; he just wanted me to get back right and take it from there.

“I like him. He is a character. He’s different from what I expected. He’s a lot more laid-back.

“When you see him playing, you expect a hard type. I suppose he has that side to him but he is really relaxed day-to-day.”

Radford hopes to take Castleford, who finished top under Powell in 2017, to a maiden league championship success at some point in his reign.

If they are to do that, the West Yorkshire club certainly need Trueman – the 2018 Super League Young Player of the Year and a Great Britain tourist 12 months later – operating at full tilt.

He managed only 11 appearances last year and just 10 the season before that, largely due to the back issue which is now finally rectified.

Trueman recalled: “I first had it two years ago. It was just when we got back from Covid that it went and I’ve just had back problems since.

“It was really sore. I got back at the end of that year but then it completely went again in the semi-final of the Challenge Cup last season.

“I started getting loads of nerve pain in my legs. I forced my way back for the final, which I probably shouldn’t have done. We were jabbing it all week. After that (final), I could barely walk. It was so bad. I couldn’t even cough. If I had a coughing fit, I was screaming in pain it was that bad. My disc had bulged so far out that it was touching a nerve.

“But as soon as I had the op –they shaved a bit of the disc off so it was off the nerve – I felt instant relief. Three or four days post-op it was a bit sore but I could instantly feel the relief and, two weeks later, I felt so much better.”

Trueman says he will be fit for their opener against Salford Red Devils at Wheldon Road in a week’s time and is “confident” about the club’s chances of challenging for honours having failed to reach the play-offs last term.

“There’s been a big turnaround of players, probably the biggest since I’ve been here,” said the player, who joined from Bradford Bulls in 2017 when his hometown club went into liquidation.

“There’s a new team and a new feel to it all. In training, we’re looking good. We’ve added some quality players and I think we’ll have a good crack at it this year.”

One reason for that is his belief Radford – who has signed the likes of Jake Mamo, Mahe Fonua, Kenny Edwards and George Lawler – will encourage greater creativity.

“Not too much is different,” insisted Trueman, who was handed his debut by Powell in 2017 and scored a hat-trick against Wigan Warriors in only his second game.

“He’s maybe freed the team up a little bit. With a new coach coming in and a clean slate, he wants us to play free-flowing rugby.

“He’s given myself, Danny (Richardson) and Paul (McShane) a lot of freedom to play what we see so I’m looking forward to that. The last three years we have been quite a structured team but Radders has tried to get that out of us.

“You still have to have some attacking structure but he wants us to play what we see.”

Castleford fans will hope their side can return to the halcyon days of 2017 when their brilliant attacking quality saw them surge to the League Leaders’ Shield.

Luke Gale, of course, was the club’s principal schemer then but now it is very much Trueman’s time. He is back for good.