It has become traditional for Castleford Tigers to play Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” after a home win lately, and there is one line in particular from that song which will strike a familiar chord with Castleford fans at the moment.
“Good times never seemed so good,” Diamond famously sang all those years ago – and life as a Castleford fan over the last two years must feel like one long dream. The Super League has traditionally been a struggle for the West Yorkshire club, suffering relegation twice in the last 11 years, but under Daryl Powell, Castleford have been transformed into one of the game’s familiar faces at the top.
Their fourth-placed finish and appearance in the Challenge Cup final last year was expected to be a flash in the pan, but Castleford are again challenging under the stewardship of Powell, with four wins in a row moving them level alongside fourth-placed Huddersfield.
The winger Justin Carney has played a major part in Castleford’s success under Powell, and the Australian believes that Castleford have evolved once again this year after their success last season.
“It’s the same culture here, but it’s a very different side,” said Carney. “There’s different players and different ways about us; we lost [Daryl] Clarky and we play a lot differently this year. We’re finding our way a bit and teams are finding us hard to deal with. We can’t take our foot off the throttle, we’ve just got to keep improving and we should be good for the back end of the year.
“We’re so good to watch this year too, it was amazing to sit in the stands and watch us play some brilliant stuff. It’s even better to play in too, though; we didn’t play at our best earlier in the season but we’ve settled in now and we look a mean team.”
Carney will make the second appearance of his comeback from elbow surgery against Widnes on Sunday as Castleford aim to move into the top four, and he admits he was surprised when Powell threw him straight back into the side given their impressive form.
“I’m delighted to just be in the side, because they went so well without me in it. I was fearing I’d have to sit on the sidelines for a bit because Denny [Solomona] and Ashley [Gibson] have done outstandingly well on the wings and I feared I’d be biding my time. I was a bit scratchy but I’m grateful to Daryl for putting me in and now the challenge is to get back to where I was before.”
Should Castleford beat the out-of-sorts Vikings, who are without their captain, Kevin Brown, for at least six weeks due to a foot injury, then Huddersfield will have to defeat Hull Kingston Rovers to stay fourth. They have slid under the radar with just one defeat in their last 10, but the Giants’ assistant coach, Kieron Purtill, acknowledges the pressure Castleford are applying in the race for the top four.
“Our main focus this weekend is to beat Hull KR to make sure we keep hold of fourth place with three games left, especially as Castleford are continuing to breathe down our necks,” he said. “We know the higher we finish, the more chance we’ve got of reaching our first Super League Grand Final, and that remains our main aim for this year.”
