For the derby against Leeds Rhinos next week, the Castleford Tigers will be missing a vital pivot, while another significant player will be sidelined for more than three months due to injury.
Half-back Jacob Miller will not play against Hull FC on Friday, according to Tigers coach Craig Lingard, and he is also anticipated to miss the trip to AMT Headingley eight days later. After just one game for the Tigers, on-loan prop Sam Eseh has been called back by the Wigan Warriors, and winger Louis Senior is set to embark on a 12-to 14-week sabbatical.
“Milky had been dealing with a knee injury for several weeks, and now he has added another one to his list. He spent a week or two in a boot, but he is now free of it, and we’re hoping the stay won’t be too long. He is most likely not playing this week, and it is unlikely that he will play against Leeds, but we are hoping that he will return for the Wigan game the week following that bye week.
Lingard said of Senior, “It’s another disappointing one.” We believed he had a bit of a dead leg, but he managed to play through the Saints game. However, it didn’t get better over the next few days, so he had a scan, which revealed that he had torn his quad. Regretfully, he will be absent for 12–14 weeks.
Hooley, Wood, I Senior, Watts, McShane, El-Zakhem, Mellor, Westerman, Horne, Gryphon, Milnes, Putt, Hodson, S Hall, Namo, Qareqare, Robb, Kibula, Hill, Hoy, and C Hall are the representatives of the Castleford Tigers.
According to Lingard, Paul McShane, a former Rhinos hooker, will play in the halves of Friday’s televised encounter, and Jason Qareqare, who is back, will take Senior’s position after Senior survived a reserves match last week. In the running to be called into the 17 are Samy Kibula, Sam Hall, Josh Hodson, Sylvester Namo, Nixon Putt, and former Leeds player Luke Hooley.
Sutcliffe, Trueman, Ese’ese, Houghton, Sao, Fash, Lane, Ashworth, Scott, Smith, Gardiner, Barron, Martin, Jebson, Walker, Moy, Charles, Briscoe, Aydin, Chan, Reynolds are the founding members of Hull FC.
