Speaking after his side’s dramatic 26-22 win over rivals Wakefield Trinity, Chester confirmed that veteran George Griffin had played his last home game for the club as he announced his exit. Just under 12 hours later, the club would also confirm the exit of Josh Simm with the winger being announced as a new Catalans Dragons signing.

Castleford could have been further ahead at the break and despite extending that lead again, Wakefield hit back and came close to a winner but the Tigers were resolute in their defence as they gave their home fans something to cheer about.

“I can’t thank those loyal fans enough for sticking with us. I know it’s been tough,” Chester said in his post-match presser, before speaking on what the rest of season 2025 holds.

“I think the players wanted to prove everybody wrong and they did tonight. We’ve got two more games as a playing group and we’ve got to enjoy it, embrace it and really work hard in pre-season to get this club to where it deserves to be.”

Castleford Tigers fearing broken arm for overseas star

One of those who he confirmed to be on the way out was George Griffin with the 33-year-old set to leave after playing over 100 games for the club since his arrival in 2020.

“I’m pleased for George Griffin. George played his last home game here tonight,” Chester explained as he confirmed the forward’s exit.

“He’s been here for a number of years and you could see how much it meant to him. He was very courageous and the lads fed off that.”

There was also praise for centre Sam Wood, with Chester adding: “I thought Sam Wood has his best game in a Cas shirt for a long time and it’s been tough for Sam. He’s a confidence player and when things aren’t going particularly well, you can easily fall into that trap but he did well tonight.”

Aside from the praise for some strong performances, Chester also offered an injury update as he confirmed that both Jeremiah Simbiken and Cain Robb would head for X-rays, with the suspicion being that Simbiken had broken his arm.

He explained: “Jerry and Cain don’t look great. With Jerry, I’d be guessing but he’s going for an X-ray now and I’d be fairly confident that he’s fractured his arm or something in his arm.

“Cain Robb didn’t look great either but they’ll both go for X-rays. I’ve not even thought about next week because we’re seriously down to the bare bones now.

“Hopefully we get somebody like Zac Cini and (Jason) Qareqare back next week but we’ll worry about that on Monday morning when we come into training.”