Tigers retain young stars

CASTLEFORD Tigers have fought off stiff competition from a number of clubs to secure the signature of nine scholarship players on professional contracts.
The announcement comes within days of similar moves by Leeds and St Helens, and is evidence that young player development at the Jungle remains a top priority.
2010 has seen the emergence of players like Joe Arundal and Jordan Thompson on to the first team scene, while fellow academy products Joe Westerman and Michael Shenton are established interenationals.
“I believe that is a sign of the club having a successful scholarship and a very good development system in place here at the Tigers,” said head of youth development Steve Gill.
“We had a lot of competition this year for all our young players, with Bradford, Wakefield, Huddersfield, Hull FC and Hull KR all offering contracts to our under 16s scholars.
“But it is vitally important we keep the best players at Castleford and I feel we have gone a long way in achieving this goal.
“I see these signings as just reward for all the hard work their community clubs have put in, along with our own Scholarship coaches and 1st Grade players who work on the clubs Scholarship in developing these youngsters,” he continued.
“It was evident this year how proud the young guys were in pulling the Tigers shirt on for the first time at both 16s and 15s and this bodes well for the future.”
Eight of the nine players most recently played their amateur Rugby League with Castleford Lock Lane.
They are scrum half Conner Land, centre Jordan Gill, loose forward Ryan Backhouse, full back Curtis McDonald, stand off Ben Reynolds, centre Tommy Newbould, second rower Shaun Pick and prop forward Liam Lunn. Stand off Zack Snelgrove, who joins from Milford Marlins, completes the list.
The nine are joined by Luke Day who opted to join the Tigers ahead of scholarship club Leeds Rhinos.
“Luke saw the Tigers as the place for him to progress into a Super League player through our Junior Development Pathway.
“The young guys saw the pathway towards playing Super League with Adam Milner, Jonathan Walker, John Davies and Oliver Holmes, Joe Arundel and Jordan Thompson all under the age of 19 and playing Super League this year.”