Smith: Proud to be a Cas lad

Daniel Smith discusses his own style of the game, his wants and aims for the future, and just exactly why Castleford Tigers means so much to him.

This feature was originally taken from our official monthly club magazine, ROAR, and has now been updated.

With fourteen appearances and eight starts in Super League 2022, Daniel Smith has been a solid performer for the Tigers this season. HIS efforts have been gaining hard yards, drawing in more defenders to stop him, or getting an offload away to allow second phase rugby.

When asked if this was one of the best starts to a new season he has had, Smith said: “I reckon so, yeah, my main focus was having a big pre-season to do well when the games started, and I feel like I have done that. It might be my best start so far.”

Ever since joining the Tigers partway through the 2019 season, Smiggy (Smith) has felt very much at home playing at the club he supported as a boy, this saw him move very quickly into the matchday starting thirteen and bouncing well off his fellow forwards such as Liam Watts and Grant Millington at the time.

“When I came in, I felt like I performed pretty well and that felt like a really good year for me, but now I am a lot more confident, I’m playing with confidence and the coaches have put their trust into me obviously to start games. That’s been a big factor for me, it’s something that I always wanted to do, and I feel like I’m doing that now.”

Much could be made of starting line-ups and whether certain players prove to be better and more impactful off the bench, or if they would be better suited to starting. Smith does have a slight preference but would play however his coach wants him to play.

“I don’t really mind, to be honest, but personally I feel it looks better if you are that starting man, that’s just my thoughts on it and other people are different, other players love coming off the bench. I like to start and I’m glad to be doing it but if needed to come off the bench I can do that too.”

In a similar style to the legendary Grant Millington, Smig can often be seen as a halfback in a prop’s body, he is a talented, ball-handling forward whose offloads appear more prevalent than ever before this year.

“Look at the personnel we have in the middle, Westerman, Wattsy, even Kenny and myself we all like to offload the ball and you have to play to your strengths. Sometimes when there is an offload that is maybe when we play our best rugby at Cas in general, off the cuff.

“I think that in the game now, there is only a certain number of forwards who can play and pass the ball well, but that’s the way the game is going now, and you need your middles to be able to pass, offload, because the game is that quick now you need that to create those opportunities.”

Big minutes by the big men used to be quite rare but now it is highly frequent that we see the likes of Smith, Massey and Westerman doing long shifts in the middle of the field. Combined with the modern-day rules, is Daniel feeling fitter than ever?

“Given the amount of game time I’ve got as well under my belt these past couple of years and the way the game is now, I think I am. I’ve adapted to it with the six-agains, you just have to be a bit lighter and that’s helped a lot but like I’ve said I’m feeling really confident at the minute, but I do think I’ll keep getting better I reckon.”

One man who knows exactly what it takes to be a top-class forward rugby league player is the Fords Head Coach Lee Radford, who has not ripped up the rulebook with his troops as Daniel attests to.

“It’s been really good, he’s laidback with me and the rest of the lads and that’s probably how I like it. I think he has a gauge on me and what I can bring to the team, and I’ve been happy working under him. He’s not come in and taught me a load of new things, he’s actually come to promote my game more really, which has helped me quite a bit and been pleasing.”

Radford has hailed the likes of #ONECLUB men Nathan Massey and Adam Milner as the driving force of what it means to be a Castleford rugby player, but he has also pointed out the importance of the strong contingent of men from the local area or who developed through our system.

“Our culture is built on respect of the club and the town, people like Westy, Wattsy, Greg (Eden), Adz (Milner), Mass (Massey) and Sticks (Clare), there is a feeling there that is like a strong bond, when you are from Castleford it is good to play for your hometown club, I think we all have that bond.

“We are Cas lads and it’s good to have people who know what it means to the town, everyone gets it but if you’re from Cas it means that bit more playing for your hometown club than any other club. I’ve played at a few clubs, and I truly care about winning all the time with whoever I’m representing, I never wanted to lose when I played elsewhere, but it’s a different feeling for me wanting to win here because I’ve been cheering at Wheldon Road since I was a kid growing up.”

Now whilst Smiggy did not come through our ranks, he was clearly an avid Cas fan as a youngster and now at 29 he looks back and wishes he had joined up as a kid.

“I wish I’d have done it earlier, if you could turn back time, I wish I had started here as a junior, that is not to bash where I went and what I did, but I would have loved to have come through the system here at Cas. I went another route, but ever since I got here, I have enjoyed every minute of it.

But let that not take away the terrific growth he made as part of Leeds’ Academy, before making the brave choice to join South Sydney Rabbitohs Under 20’s side and to play and live on the other side of the world.

“It was massive that, it changed me, I’d always been living with my mum, but I grew up then, I moved to the other side of the world with my girlfriend Gemma, and she has supported me through everything, all the ups and downs. We had to fend for ourselves, it was learning everything and how to live as a grown man really and it helped me massively.”

Daniel’s brother Cameron did come through Leeds youth ranks and has established himself in their pack which has meant the two brothers have faced off against one another on the field – the latest of which came one day before Mother’s Day!

“It’s always a weird one because he’s my little brother, isn’t he? It’s more of a proud moment for me and I love to see him doing well. There is nothing better than both of us on the field at the same time, especially for my mum and my family, it is something we always wanted to do as kids and to be able to do that it is a pretty big achievement – it doesn’t happen much.

“But my mum is from Cas, so she is a Cas fan at heart, but she of course loves Cameron, and she has to shout for Leeds when he’s playing!

Cliched as it may be, many forwards are thought to only get better as they get older and whilst Smith does have a contract for this year and next which was signed in 2021, he knows he wants to give the best days of his career to Castleford.

“I’d hope to end my career here to be honest, I’m only 29 years old and I think I’m starting to get to the peak of my career, and I would love to stay here as long as I can – that’s something I’ll be wanting to do. There’s a long time left in my career I hope, and I’d love to have the rest of it all here.”