Castleford Tigers head coach Craig Lingard has provided an update on forward Liam Watts following his early departure from last week’s 24-18 victory over Catalans Dragons. Lingard confirmed that while Watts will miss the upcoming game, the injury is not considered long-term.
“We are hoping it’s not too bad,” Lingard said. “He’s done some running today and was about 75 or 80 percent fit, but he has not trained with the boys this week. We’re not expecting it to be a massive injury and hopefully he will be available next week.”
Additionally, Nixon Putt has returned to training but will not feature in the 17-man squad this week. “Nixon Putt is back in the squad, he has trained fully this week but he won’t be in the 17 this week. He needs some minutes to get up to match speed,” Lingard explained.
Lingard also addressed his strategy for integrating younger players into the first team as the season progresses. “Fletcher could potentially play, and between now and the end of the season, we have to blood some of these younger players we have talked about,” he said. “We might get to the last four or five games and it’s perhaps unrealistic to make the play-offs. We will gauge where we are week by week but there will come a point where we chuck a few young kids in.”
Lingard emphasized the importance of thinking long-term and preparing younger players for the future. “As a coach you want to win as many games as you can and it would weaken the team but we need to think bigger picture which is what we’ve done all season. We need to blood these younger players in for next season and make sure they are physically ready and mentally aware,” he added.
While he refrained from naming specific players, Lingard assured that those who are training regularly with the first team are aware of the opportunity ahead. “I don’t want to chuck too many names out there in case we get their hopes up. Players will know who they are because they are training with the first-team squad on a regular basis,” he concluded.
