The new Castleford Tigers boss, Paul Rowley, has been very clear about where he wants to see huge improvements within the squad heading into 2027.

Rowley has signed a three-year deal at Wheldon Road, replacing Australian Ryan Carr, who departed the club back in August. The former Featherstone boss was tipped to be the man who got the club back to its glory days, but after unforeseen circumstances, the Tigers now head into 2027 with Rowley at the helm.

A former Salford, Leigh and Toronto boss, the 51-year-old is no stranger to taking on underperforming teams and improving them significantly. His time at St Helens didn’t work out as planned, but he is determined to bring back hope to the Castleford faithful over the next three seasons.

In his first full interview with the club, Rowley explained how initial conversations with Director of Rugby Chris Chester and owner Martin Jepson is what lured him into the role. Both Rowley and Chester have history, with the pair playing together at Halifax in the late 1990s.

“The main reason that I decided to commit to Castleford is because of my initial conversations with Chris and the board,” he explained on the Tigers’ YouTube channel.

“I came down and met the board, and it felt right. I liked them as people, and I felt the passion of the ‘Cas’ supporters. They’re just honest people, and I really got along with them.

“For me, that’s really important and was a really significant part of me committing to Cas.”

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With just a couple of weeks to go before pre-season begins, Rowley knows there is plenty of work to be done to get the Tigers fit and firing ahead of 2027. In fact, it is the ‘fit’ part that the new boss alluded to in his comments, saying that in 2026 the side weren’t are the required fitness standards needed for Super League.

He said: “I’m probably late to the party now, a couple of weeks before pre-season starts, but with anything, it’s a process. I would say in terms of the middle unit in particular, I’m comfortable saying it needs to work harder. We’re going to do some hard work there, we’ve got to work harder and got to be resilient.

“The game’s changed. The game’s chaotic in many respects because of the ruck speed, both sides of the ball, so we’ve got to be able to deal with that on both sides of the ball as well.”

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Paul Rowley keen to bring in higher-quality forwards to Castleford Tigers

Rowley revealed that he will be looking to bring in some new recruits ahead of the new season, with some key positions already outlined.

He continued: “Speaking openly, I think there’s a bit of space there for back rowers. We need a little bit of purist back rowers, I think. Whether that be one or two, maybe another consistent body to cover in the outside back spots, and then the middles need strengthening as well.

“I wouldn’t say masses of numbers, and again it’s a process. There are players that are on a journey, and there’ll be some players that come out and surprise me. I didn’t realise how good certain players were or how consistent or reliable certain players are, so I really think it’s important just to come in and assess really.”

Whilst the middles are in need of a big improvement, Rowley agrees that there is some high-quality within the backline and spine. His problem there is – where do they all fit?

He explained: “There’s some quality in our outside backs, which has been further strengthened, so that’s quite exciting. I guess it’s finding where the pieces of the jigsaw best fit. As an example, PLT [Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e] and [Tyrell] Sloan, both are great full-backs. Throw [Blake] Taaffe in the mix there. It’s [about] where we put our players to make the 13 or the 17 the strongest available team on that given week.

“I’m looking forward to having a look really and learning, and I’m going to take time on that one, but we need to be up and running. I think the season might be starting a little bit earlier again this year, so as always it comes thick and fast and it’ll be upon us sooner than we think.”