Luke Gale believes Castleford’s run of games that begins with Sunday’s visit of Wigan will illustrate just how capable last season’s Grand Finalists are of emulating that achievement.
Castleford welcome Wigan in one of the standout fixtures of the weekend. A trip to face the side who beat them in the Old Trafford showpiece, Leeds, follows next Friday, and another away game at in-form Wakefield will follow.
The Castleford scrum-half says: “I’m excited to see where we are and Sunday will show us exactly where we’re at. We’re looking forward to it. These are the games you want to be playing in and you’ll get a better reflection of where Castleford are at when we get out of this run of games.”
Daryl Powell’s side started the season with a 46-6 defeat at St Helens but have won their three games since. They are yet to replicate the scintillating style of play that won them so many admirers in 2017 but Gale says that this is not a concern internally. “Everyone expects you to be the same team as last season but it just doesn’t work like that. We learned more in the Grand Final than we did in the previous 20 games last year. We’re happy to be building with three wins from our last three and, while we might not be all-singing and all-dancing yet, it’s a case of just knocking up wins at this time of the year.”
Gale earned plaudits aplenty last year, being named the man of steel, and while he says handling the change in perception of Castleford as a club is a challenge, he is unmoved by any extra spotlight which may be on his own game.
“What’s difficult is the belief now that everyone expects you to win by 60 points – if you win by 20, Castleford are assumed to have played poorly,” he says.
“Nobody is ever completely happy; I guess that’s just sport. But we know these next few weeks we’ve a great opportunity to show what we’re about.”
