Willis wanting to learn this pre-season

Young forward Aaron Willis is experiencing his first-ever senior pre-season with the Tigers for 2023 and the promising prop sat down with castlefordtigers.com to discuss how he has been getting on.

Willis had a standout year with the Fords’ Academy and Reserves teams with the 19-year-old picking up the Academy Player of the Year Award last term.

Aaron, who is proudly sponsored by Rugbytots, made his maiden Castleford senior appearance when taking to the field against Featherstone Rovers on New Year’s Eve and the imposing youngster touched on how he’s looking to make his mark this year.“This pre-season has been great for me, and I have been trying to get as stuck in as I can all the way through. I feel like I have come on a lot in the last few months, thanks to the players and the staff here who have been helping me from day one.”

Making the step up into the senior pack can be a daunting prospect for anyone looking to make their break into the First Team, however, Willis sees it as an opportunity to take his game to the next level.

“The plays that the First Team do aren’t too different to the ones we run in the Academy, but it is the intensity and competitiveness of everyone around you is definitely the step up. It’s obviously a big change but mixing with the senior players is only going to help improve my game.”

The forward isn’t the only Academy graduate to be introduced into the senior squad with Lee Radford bringing in the likes of George Hill and Hugo Nikhata from the Club’s youth ranks and Willis claims that it’s been a help to have them around.

“We’ve got a tight group of us youngsters who are coming into their first pre-season here. We are all in it together, so we are all there to get around each other and support each other.”

Castleford have plenty of experience in the forward pack and this is something that Willis has picked up on in order to learn from some of the most experienced players in the game.

“A lot of the middles have been helping me out. The likes of Wattsy and Massey have been helping me a lot with the little things you wouldn’t really think about, but it’s those details that make a massive difference.”

“Having access to that knowledge is great for me because not everyone has the chance to learn from people as experienced as that.”

In closing, Aaron outlined what his individual goals are for the rest of the pre-season campaign and 2023 by saying: “I want to learn as much as I can and learn as much as I can to become a better player. I’ve not really set myself a goal playing-wise, I just want to see how far I can go. I’m focussed on improving as much as I can.”

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