The long-serving Castleford prop Andy Lynch believes his side are still capable of matching last year’s heroics, though they must fix their inconsistent start to the season soon.
Castleford were tipped to be in the relegation mix in 2014 but finished fourth and reached the final of the Challenge Cup. That success was built on a strong start, as they won eight of their first 10 games of the season. However, they have found the going tougher this time, with five wins from 11 games.
Lynch believes the congested nature of the table gives hope that a good run can send Castleford surging up the league. Although they are two points ahead of second-bottom Hull FC, they are within a point of fourth-placed Salford going into the game between the two sides on Sunday.
“I can’t put my finger on why everyone has been so inconsistent; if I knew that, we’d be up at the top of the table,” he said. “It’s a bit mad at the moment . You can go from 10th up to fourth with one win. It’s really tight, but if we win a few games we can pull away from everyone else.
“Last year, we couldn’t have hoped for a better start, but we just haven’t had a chance to get going this year.”
Lynch also says last year’s achievements have now made the Tigers a “wanted” side, as opposed to a team sliding under the radar. “There’s that element to it,” he said.
“We need to work on our game more because people are going to be very aware and very conscious of how we’re playing as a team after last year’s success.
“We’ve got to add little elements all the time and listen to the coaching staff before going out and executing it. If we do that we’ll go out and get a win against Salford.”
The Red Devils are down to their last fit 17 players because four suspensions, including two former Cas players in Rangi Chase and Weller Hauraki, and injuries. The situation could bring their 38-year-old former player and current assistant coach Ian Watson out of retirement for the match.
But despite their injury crisis, Lynch is refusing to get distracted with what is happening at Salford. He said: “It’s a massive game and they’re going to be saying the same. We’ve got to have a real good preparation and hopefully we can go and do the job. We’ve got to focus on our own game; they’ve had their problems with injuries but so have we. The 17 that goes out there for us will be good enough to get the job done.”
