John Cartwright has confirmed that he will field all available first-team players for Saturday's pre-season clash against Castleford Tigers. The Black and Whites take on the Tigers for Joe Westerman's testimonial game, with Cartwright set to go with a large squad in West Yorkshire.

Fielding players for around forty minutes, the Australian coach will try out several different combinations in what is the club's only pre-season fixture before competitive action begins in the Challenge Cup against York Acorn next month. Into the second block of pre-season training, Cartwright has declared he is happy with the fitness of his squad, with the coach focusing on three key areas for the game at Wheldon Road.

Speaking to Hull Live ahead of the clash, he said: "I'm looking forward to it, mainly just to see where we sit. It's only a friendly, but we'll be out there just to put on what we've been practicing, play with discipline, and get through injury-free. That will be a big bonus for us.

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"Pretty much everyone that is available will play. There will be plenty of different combinations played. Most of them will get around 40 minutes. It's our first hit out; some clubs have had one or two already, so it's important that we get out and give everyone some time.

"I'm certainly happy with their fitness; you've got to weigh up the balance of how much match fitness they have and then weigh that up against injuries. After this game, we've got the Challenge Cup the following week. I'm not sure what we'll do there, but we'll see how healthy the squad is. That's important to us, and then the season starts over in Catalans.

"We're hoping the cup game is on a Saturday. That will give us our best opportunity to play the game and respect the game as best as we can. We want to respect the cup game, and that will give us the best time to prepare for it."

On the injury front, Cartwright confirmed fresh injuries for Matty Laidlaw and Jack Charles, with Laidlaw injuring his knee while playing for Doncaster earlier this month. Meanwhile, Charles rolled his ankle in training just after returning from a hamstring tear.

"He's had a setback with his ankle—he rolled it," Cartwright said. "He'll be in the boot for a couple of weeks, and then we'll assess him when he gets out of it. It's been unfortunate for him; he's a passionate young fella, he loves his footy, and he trains really hard. Unfortunately, he's had a bit of bad luck with those injuries, but he's doing everything he possibly can right around the clock to get right. He'll be back, at the very worst, on the timeframe off the season start.

"Matty has picked up a medial injury. He had a run out over at Doncaster, with whom we've formed a little bit of a relationship, which is very important to us. It's unfortunate; he rolled down in the tackle awkwardly, and he's picked up an MCL. He'll probably be out for another month maximum, I'd say."

Elsewhere, Nick Staveley is making good progress from an ACL rupture, with Davy Litten the only other long-term absentee. Brad Fash is all back in full pre-season training after an ankle injury.

"Nick's ACL has taken longer than what we'd have liked, but it's an ACL—you've got to respect the fact that it might take longer. Not everyone is the same; he's a big lad, and hopefully within the next 4-6 weeks we'll see him progress to get him ready for selection.

"It was Fash's first full session back today. He got through it. He's all good. Davy is still looking at an April return."

Elsewhere, Cartwright confirmed that everyone else is fit and available. He added: "Everyone trained today. Only those guys will be unavailable for the Cas game. Fingers crossed we get through that game okay, and we've got a full squad to pick from for the Challenge Cup game and Catalans."

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