Joe Westerman will pull the curtain down on his rugby league career, after a tremendous 20 years in the professional game.

Making his debut for the Tigers in 2007, Westerman would quickly burt onto the scene, winning Super League’s Young Player of the Year award in 2008.

Called up as a fresh-faced 17 year old, he had already played over 100 Tigers games before turning 21, before a move to Hull FC came around in 2011.

Staying in West Hull for five seasons, he made a £150,000 move to Warrington Wolves ahead of 2016, but after two seasons left the Halliwell Jones Stadium to join Toronto Wolfpack.

A move to Canada didn’t work out, and he would return to the Black and Whites, before Wakefield Trinity snapped him up ahead of 2020.

Two seasons at Belle Vue led him to a Castleford return, and for most of the last five seasons he has been a regular in the squad.

Concussion injuries have hampered the final season of his career, meaning he won’t get a final game to round out his career. He will, however, get a chance to show his support to the fans after the club’s trip to Huddersfield on Saturday.

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In total, Westerman played 467 career games, with 213 coming for Castleford, 402 coming in Super League and one coming for England in 2014 against Samoa.

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Castleford Tigers confirm five releases including retiring Joe Westerman

The West Yorkshire outfit have revealed that Westerman is one of five players to join the club at the end of the season.

One of those, we already knew about, with prop Sam Hall already agreeing a deal to move to Toulouse for 2027.

Also departing are overseas pair Joe Stimson and Daejarn Asi, whilst hooker Cain Robb has also not been offered a new deal.

Stimson has openly shared his desire to stay in Super League, whilst Asi has had a rough time at Castleford, despite missing just one game in his two-year stint at the club.