Castleford Tigers head coach Danny McGuire will field the same seventeen against Hull KR on Thursday night as he did against Hull FC last week. McGuire steered his side to a fourth win of the season at the MKM Stadium, with Castleford defeating Hull 22-14. The coach will now reward that group of players, who have turned the tide in recent weeks after a tough start to the season.
The Tigers are just two points behind Catalans Dragons on the Super League table and are confident of a strong second half of the year, having signed a handful of players in mid-season, most notably Tom Amone, who will join Hull KR for 2026.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, McGuire, whose side lost to Rovers in golden point in the opening round of the season, said: “The lads who played on Friday all got through the game well and all contributed to a really good team performance, so they will get an opportunity to back it up. We will be going with the same 17.
“We’re on a short turnaround this week, so the big focus is recovery. We’ve only had one main session on the field. We’ve had a light captain’s run today fine-tuning things, but it’s about backing up – we enjoyed what we did as a group last week, and we want to do that again.
“We’re in a situation where it’s more about growing, developing and performing rather than results. I know that sounds a bit weird, as life is about winning and losing, and sport is about winning and losing. I feel like we need to keep challenging each other, keep improving, and keep looking for little wins along the way. I feel like we’re doing that, and this is another challenge to see where we’re at.”
McGuire spent time at Rovers as both a player and coach, finishing his playing career at the Robins before beginning his coaching career with the club, assisting Willie Peters in 2023. He then joined Castleford as an assistant to then-coach Craig Lingard in 2024 before taking the head coach role ahead of the current season.
“We understand the challenge in front of us,” McGuire explained. “Hull KR are a great team, and they’ve got a lot of great players. They’re Challenge Cup winners and top of the league, so we know the task in front of us, but we need to back up the task that we did last week, compete, and play tough. If we do that, we’ll give ourselves a chance.”
On Rovers, McGuire continued: “They’re a really well-oiled machine. They do every facet of the game well. They get a couple of injuries, and they’ve got the luxury of bringing in another player – they’ve got real strength in depth.
“They’re also really well coached. I’ve got a lot of respect for Willie – I learnt loads of things from Willie while I was there, and that was my biggest learning period of time, that year with him.
“As a club, they’re on the crest of a wave. The fans are loving it – they’re really passionate, and they care. It’s really nice to see. I loved my time over there. It’s nice to see them having some success, but hopefully we can change that on Thursday.”