Castleford Tigers' head coach search goes on after coaches are ruled out of running

Former skipper Michael Shenton, currently assistant at Wakefield Trinity, will not be taking the Tigers role according to head coach at the Belle Vue club Daryl Powell.

Shenton is building a big reputation as a coach and it was always inevitable that he would be linked with the job at the club he served so well as a player. But he is happy at Wakefield with Powell revealing he could be in line to be his long term successor.

Australian coaching duo Ben and Shane Walker have also been linked with the Cas job, but Ben ruled himself out of the running when contacted by our sister paper the Yorkshire Evening Post.

​Luke Robinson, who was temporarily in charge for the last few games of the 2026 season, has repeatedly said he does not want the head job and is happy to have been taken on as an assistant coach along with another newcomer in Simon Grix.

He did not hide his disappointment at the way the Tigers ended the season with a whimper as they lost 48-16 at his former club Huddersfield Giants, who played the entire second half with 12 men following the sending off of Fenton Rogers.

“I felt really really really sorry for Cas fans,” said Robinson. “They came out and in that first 20 minutes they were singing and shouting, and they were brilliant.

“The season they’ve had, I’ve not been part of it but looking from outside in, but the fact that they still turned up and were cheering was commendable. I’ve spoken to the lads and I think that they did them a disservice.

"I don’t think they’ve all given up, I don’t, but do I think some of them have? Yeah, and that’s me being really honest.

“You can always take losing, you don’t like it, but there’s a manner that you go about it and I think the fans know that.”

Robinson added: “There’s a lot that needs changing and the club are quite aware but things need to change in pretty much nearly every department.

“I think there’s a lot of good people who work in the club. There’s a lot of people who work really hard, but we can just be better in nearly every aspect and a lot of that is minute stuff, but it adds up.”