Castleford Tigers hoping for Joe Westerman injury boost for Leigh Leopards game

​Already without nine first teamers for the trip to the Totally Wicked Stadium, the Tigers lost Westerman on the eve of the game to add to their injury woes and he was a big miss after running into his best form in recent weeks.

Young replacement Sam Hall did a good job in his absence, according to head coach Andy Last, but Westerman’s presence on the field was clearly missed as Cas failed to breach the Saints line and were nilled for the third time this season.

Last explained why Westerman was not in the starting line-up after being in the initially named squad.

He said: “Joe Westerman had a little bit of a sore knee.

“He trained all week but it was really grumbling in the team run. He wasn’t able to move laterally and against St Helens you need to move quick laterally.

“We made the decision not to risk him and in the replacement Sam Hall we have got someone who is very Joe Westerman-esque in terms of similar physical profile. I thought Sam did really well.

“Joe was missed, he organises plays and gets the ball to those edges and that’s something we can work on with Sam because he’s someone we feel who can develop into that ball-playing loose forward role.

"Touch wood Joe will back this week against Leigh.”

The defeat left the Tigers four points above bottom of the table Wakefield Trinity, who beat Salford convincingly to ramp up the pressure again, but Last is concentrating on his team and what they can do rather than worrying about rivals.

He added: “We’ve been focussing on ourselves.

"I’ve read a couple of reports from Wakefield saying they are taking it game to game and that’s what we’re doing.

"We’re playing Leigh now who are in very good form and it will be a big challenge. But if we can build on the performance (against St Helens) from a defensive point of view, fine tune a little bit of the good ball execution and hopefully get Joe back in the team it will be a good opportunity to potentially pick up a win at home.

"We are looking up the table, Huddersfield are only a couple of points above us so we are making a point of looking up not over our shoulders.

"We can only focus on what we can control, which is performance, the effort we put in and the work we do during the week.

"We have had a little bit of an upturn in our performances so we’re going to continue on that trajectory.”