Danny McGuire will treat Castleford Tigers’ pre-season clash against Hull FC as a ‘real fixture’ next week, with the new head coach declaring that he will use around 18-19 players.

The Tigers go up against Hull FC for Joe Westerman’s testimonial match, with McGuire keen to see some improvements after a ‘disappointing’ run out against Wakefield Trinity on Friday night. Cas were off the pace at Belle Vue, losing 32-8. They were 20-4 down at half-time and made numerous changes in the second half.

However, McGuire will now go with fewer players against John Cartwright’s side, admitting that Castleford need to be better with a performance that does Westerman justice and also looks more like what they’ve practiced in pre-season training this winter.

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"Next week will be a bit more real," McGuire told Rugby League Live. "We'll go with fewer players. We'll treat it as a real fixture, with maybe 18/19 players. I haven't decided yet, but it needs to be better. It needs to look a little bit more like we expect, and we also need to do Westy justice.

"He's been a great player for Cas and a great servant to the game, so hopefully they will be a good turnout for him, which I'm sure there will be. I'm sure the Cas fans will support and back him like they always have done.

"I'm looking forward to it already. There's an element of disappointment from the players, and they are speaking about fixing things on Monday, which is really good to hear as a coach. We'll be a lot better next week, without doubt."

He continued: “We're okay (on the injury front). We've got the usual bumps and bruises, which come with the territory, but everyone got some decent minutes there. There are some benefits there, even if the game didn't go the way we would have liked. We can have another good week now in practice and attack what will be a new game next week.”

McGuire fielded new Castleford signings Daejarn Asi and Judah Rimbu against Wakefield, with Rimbu spelling Liam Horne in the hooker role. Asi, meanwhile, featured alongside Westerman in the halves, with the Castleford boss still needing to find a solution ahead of the Challenge Cup and Super League kick-offs.

"They all had some glimpses," McGuire explained. "I thought Judah Rimbu looked sharp when he came on at nine. He had a short spell there. DJ (Asi)'s kicking wasn't as good as we would have liked, but he's finding his feet and combinations.

"With Rowan Milnes going down, they worked together all of pre-season, and that affected the fluidity a bit. It doesn't happen overnight, and it does take time. I've seen it happen so many times with overseas players; they take a little bit of time to adapt to their surroundings, the competition, and the weather, so I won't judge them too soon. We all need to be better next week, everyone, myself included, staff included. We all need to be better to make sure that we compete a little bit better."

On Asi's half-back options, McGuire jokingly didn't rule out himself pulling on his boots, with a solution to be found from 'within.'. He added: "There are a few options there. I'm disappointed for Rowan. He looked really strong in pre-season, and then he picked up a knock. He's going to be out for a while, so we need to find something that works for us.

"Westy has played there a lot of times, and I felt like that experience is what we needed alongside a new signing in Asi, but we'll have a look at how it plays out over the next two weeks and see what works for us when it really matters when the proper games start.

"I might have a go. I might jump in. Nothing's off the table. I'm confident in the players we've got. We've got an outstanding young player in Jenson Windley that will be top-notch in a few years, but I've got a job to try and protect him a little bit. I don't think he's quite ready to be thrust in just yet, but we've got some other options that we can look at. At the minute, we're not looking elsewhere. We need to fix it from within."

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