Ryan Carr believes Castleford Tigers are around 90% done with their recruitment for 2027 after the recent signings of Tyrell Sloan and Alfie Johnson.

Winger Johnson became the club’s second domestic recruit after Robbie Mulhern whilst Sloan was the third overseas signing, all of whom have come from St George Illawarra Dragons with Damien Cook and Mat Feagai signed previously.

Having stated that recruitment was around 80% done last week, Carr confirmed it was now ‘probably 90%’ though he admitted that the main focus now is on ensuring his side aren’t scrambling for mid-season recruits, as has been the case in 2026.

“There’s still a couple of spots still,” he admitted.

“This year, take George Hirst out of it, we’re about five players in the current 17 that we brought in during the year. We don’t want to be in that situation moving forward.

“There’s been multiple loans from other clubs we’ve had to use to get through this year. We don’t want to be in that position.”

Instead, the Tigers aim to be ‘in a position of strength’, with Carr adding: “If someone’s out, we’ve got another really good player to come straight in because that’s what all the teams who are in the top end of the table, that’s what they have.”

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Castleford Tigers boss explain Alfie Johnson signing

He believes that a player such as Alfie Johnson can aid in that with the Cas coach explaining why the former Warrington Wolves man is such an exciting project.

“It’s a very unique situation with Alfie,” he said.

“He’s come through, he’s played at an elite level of Rugby Union, come across to rugby league, swapped codes.

“He’s at a position where he wants to challenge himself to perform at the highest level here. He’s a really excitable project for us. We want to make sure we utilise what he’s really good at instead of trying to turn him into something he’s not.”

On what Johnson will offer, he said: “Obviously, he’s got to have a specific talent that put him to the highest level in Rugby Union. We want to try and bring that into our game, but also make sure he gets up to speed with the other areas of the game which are different.

“He’s a great kid. He wants an opportunity, he wants to learn, he wants to get better, he wants to be part of something, and we’re stoked to have him.”