Lee Radford: Castleford Tigers appoint former Hull FC boss as head coach for 2022 season
- Published
Lee Radford won the Challenge Cup in successive seasons while in charge at Hull FC
Castleford Tigers have appointed former Hull FC boss Lee Radford to succeed Daryl Powell as head coach from the 2022 season onwards.
Radford, 42, left his role at Hull in March 2020, having previously guided them to back-to-back Challenge Cup final successes in 2016 and 2017.
The former England, Bradford and Hull forward will replace Warrington-bound Powell at the end of the year.
"I like what the club is about," Radford said of his appointment.
"From the outside it is a hardworking, honest, hard-faced club, and I think you know what you're getting when you come here. I think all those descriptions suit me down to the ground."
Continuing the 'Classy Cas' brand
Paul McShane - 2020's Man of Steel - will be one talent Lee Radford gets to work with at Cas
Under Powell, the Tigers have become one of the challengers for silverware in Super League, routinely reaching the play-offs, and also appeared in Challenge Cup and Grand Finals in 2014 and 2017.
At the heart of that has been an attacking style of play worthy of the nickname 'Classy Cas'; something Radford is keen to tap into at the Mend-a-Hose Jungle.
He built an entertaining team of his own at Hull, which over seven years included the maverick qualities of Jake Connor and Albert Kelly, anchored by a powerful pack featuring talent such as Scott Taylor, Sika Manu and Gareth Ellis.
"I'm very aware of the brand of rugby that is played at this ground and it's one I'm looking forward to having an effect on as well," he added.
"The brand of rugby they play here, I've always enjoyed watching it from the outside. I've always enjoyed coming up against it and trying to stop it.
"The job Daryl has done has been great over the years. As a club they have been in that tier of the best of the rest behind a Wigan and Saints, and ultimately trying to break that ceiling is going to be what the challenge is.
"I wouldn't be coming here if I didn't have aspirations to break that ceiling of what is the top couple of sides in the competition at the moment.
"That is something we will be working tirelessly as a club and as a group to achieve."