Castleford Tigers v St Helens: Super League preview
Last Updated: 01/05/16 7:16pm
Castleford coach Daryl Powell is expecting a big response from his players when they take on St Helens on Sunday.
The Tigers were beaten 58-16 last weekend by Hull KR in what Powell described as "one of the worse performances" he has ever been involved in.
"We need a real response this week and our players are aware of that," said Powell on the official Castleford website.
"Last weekend was one of the worse performances I've been involved with. Super League is a real tough and unpredictable competition this year and there's a couple of ways to go, you can put your head in the sand and sweep things under the carpet, or you can stick your chest out, dust yourself down a little bit and get on with it, and the latter is what we are hoping for, we'll get stuck in to it, you need to be at your best against St Helens."
Castleford are boosted by the return of Ben Crooks, Will Maher and Conor Fitzsimmons but Ryan Boyle, Greg Minikin and Larne Patrick miss out.
St Helens coach Keiron Cunningham is fully expecting a Tigers backlash and says their loss to Hull KR was just a blip.
"Castleford's defeat to Hull KR was a blip for me," said Cunningham "Hull KR had a point to prove and were in a lull. There's always a point when you come out of that and unfortunately for Daryl it was against the Tigers. They are also down on troops but I'm sure they will be fully fit when we play them this week.
"These games are usually free flowing with plenty of points, but we don't want to be on the end of that."
Cunningham has made two changes with Jordan Turner and Dominque Peyroux added to the squad.
Castleford Tigers: Matt Cook, Ben Crooks, Conor Fitzsimmons, Luke Gale, Ryan Hampshire, Jy Hitchcox, Lee Jewitt, Andy Lynch, Will Maher, Nathan Massey, Mike McMeeken, Paul McShane, Grant Millington, Adam Milner, Junior Moors, Joel Monaghan, Gadwin Springer, Denny Solomona, Jake Webster.
St Helens: Kyle Amor, Matty Dawson, Theo Fages, Joe Greenwood, Morgan Knowles, Jonny Lomax, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Shannon McDonnell, Jack Owens, Mark Percival, Dominque Peyroux, Greg Richards, James Roby, Lama Tasi, Jordan Turner, Alex Walmsley, Atelea Vea, Luke Walsh, Jon Wilkin.