Wigan v Castleford Tigers: Tigers retreat from the limelight in bid to let their play do the talking

They head to champions Wigan Warriors tonight looking to deliver a seventh win from their opening eight fixtures.

Castleford have caught the eye as the competition’s most exciting team and are being touted as potential Grand Final winners themselves this year.

Of course, they have never lifted a title in their long history and England centre Shenton maintains they realise their work has only just begun.

“We try not to focus on the media attention,” he said.

“You don’t want the boys getting too carried away. It means nothing so far.

“If you fall away now it’d be a big, massive disappointment and then you get a lot of stick off the media.

“It’s important we keep it going and keep playing well, especially coming into the kind of period we’ve got coming up after Wigan.

“That’s a massive game and Wigan is the focus, but if we win this we could be in a great place moving forward.

“It’s a big challenge and one everyone’s excited for.”

Wigan, who beat NRL champions Cronulla Sharks to lift the World Club Challenge in February, have failed to win in any of their last three outings.

However, Shenton fully expects them to respond in a game billed as the biggest of the season so far and admits there is an increased rivalry with the Cherry and Whites.

“They are normally quite tasty games,” he said.

“It probably comes from 2014 (Castleford won an epic Challenge Cup quarter-final at Wigan) maybe, but it’s not something we focus on.

“It’s more in the media and the fans. We love to beat them because they are the champion team and it puts a bit of a statement out there if you do that, but we can’t focus on that kind of stuff.

“We focus on what they’re going to bring as a team and how they are going to look to break us down and how we can break them down.

“It is going to be our biggest challenge so far.”

Shenton, 30, has made a successful return to action after missing almost all of last year following a knee reconstruction.

As part of a vibrant side that is averaging 40 points per game, he said: “The knee feels good.

“I am not missing any training or games so I am happy with that.

“I just want to keep playing consistently and keep improving my partnerships with Zak (Hardaker) and Greg Eden as well.

“There’s bits of improvement in there.”

There has certainly been that in a collective manner as Castleford’s only defeat so far was a 
13-12 loss at Salford Red Devils.

Wigan coach Shaun Wane has highlighted that as a way for his side to get back to winning ways themselves.

“We’ve gone three games without a win and I don’t like it,” he said, having missed out narrowly against both Leeds Rhinos and Hull FC after drawing at Huddersfield.

“I am determined to get a win on Thursday.

“We know it will be a tough game and we need to be a lot better. We need to be smart and put their key players under pressure.

“If you let them play, they can score points against anybody, but Salford challenged them and made them struggle a bit.

“They’re a good team and the way they attack is fantastic so we need to be very good to beat them.”

Elsewhere, Leeds second-row Brett Ferres has issued a public apology for his ‘crusher’ tackle on Wigan centre Oliver Gildart last week, but is considering an appeal against the severity of his ban.

The England forward was given a six-match suspension, as well as a £300 fine, for the dangerous challenge with Gildart facing a two- to three-month lay-off with a serious back injury. The former Castleford star has until 11am on Tuesday to decide if he wants to appeal the suspension.