Scholarship Recruits for 2020/21

After all their hard work during lockdown, the scholarship programme continues to go from strength to strength as part of the Tigers youth setup and has seen many promising first team talents graduate through the ranks in recent years including Jacques O’Neil, Lewis Peachey, Brad Graham, Sam Hall, and Bailey Hodgson. Now the squad will be further bolsted by the addition of 16 promising young players.

These newest scholarship players will start their work in October as an Under 15s age group, remotely accessing pre-hab and programmes to aid their athletic development from coaches, as well as receiving specialist analysis and education sessions. It is still hoped that the Tigers will be able to take to the field and resume full training later in the autumn in line with the latest government advice.

The latest additions to the scholarship setup reflects the tremendous work of the Youth Talent Identification and coaching staff after a turbulent period with a delayed recent RFL scholarship recruitment window yielding a sizeable number of players from local community clubs alongside others from further afield across the Yorkshire region.

Head of Youth Performance Darren Higgins was delighted to announce the new arrivals and grateful for everyone who helped bring them to the club.

“It’s with great pleasure that we are able to welcome these young players to the club. The process of identifying this age group started over 18 months ago and with the challenges of not being able to observe community games over the last 6 months, this thorough and proactive approach from Steve Armitage and our talent identification programme has served us well alongside a great introduction to the game given to these players from their respective community clubs.

"During the lockdown period Steve has worked tirelessly behind the scenes, meeting players and their families via Zoom calls with many fulltime staff being on furlough. Many of these lads have signed for Castleford despite numerous offers from other clubs. These signings are a great reflection of Steve’s outstanding work and the great impression our coaches have given of the club and our provision when players have attended Tigers Talent Pathway sessions earlier this year.

"It’s also important to note, that as a club, we will continue to monitor players with further recruitment and talent identification in mind once the community game is up and running again, and also through our Tigers Talent Pathway programme which relaunches in October half term.”

Congratulations to the full list of Castleford Tigers scholarship recruits for 2020/21 below:

• Fletcher Rooney, Lock Lane ARL
• Cameron Docherty, West Hull ARL
• Harry Egly, Lock Lane ARL
• Luke Garside, Normanton Knights ARL
• Jacob Hall, West Hull ARL
• Alfie Hawkhead, Oulton Raiders ARL
• Caiden Lawton, Hunslet Parkside ARL
• Jensen Leake, Kippax Welfare ARL
• Harry Maule, Doncaster Toll Bar ARL
• Jack Moxon, East Leeds ARL
• Harvey Purdy, Hunslet Parkside ARL
• Harley Sayles, Lock Lane ARL
• Woody Walker, Siddal ARL
• Alfie Wall, Hull Wyke ARL
• Josh Whittingham, East Leeds ARL
• Jenson Windley, West Hull ARL