Halifax-born Niall Evalds aiming to win trophies with Castleford Tigers

The full-back signed for the club from Salford Red Devils after enjoying some fine form with the Greater Manchester club over the last few seasons.

The Halifax-born player reached the Super League Grand Final with Salford in 2019 and helped the club to the Challenge Cup Final the following year.

He was on the losing side following both of those contests and is now determined to take Castleford - who lost the 2017 Grand Final - one step further this season.

“That is why I’ve come here, like I’ve said it is a fresh challenge and I think this team is good enough to get to finals and really do something special,” he told Castleford Tigers’ ROAR magazine.

“It’s why I joined Cas, the expectations of the club, of Daryl Powell and all the players here, it is up to us to meet them standards.

“It’s exciting as a whole this new start for me and I’m ready for the season to start. I need to enjoy this pre-season as best we can with all the hard work and get ready to play.”

Evalds scored 105 tries in 152 appearances for the Red Devils and is the club’s all-time record try-scorer.

He has ambitions of earning international honours and is keen to continue his improvement at Castleford under head coach Daryl Powell.

“You aim to improve and grow every year, but also every day in training you are trying to make yourself better as a player, it’s what I’ve done throughout my career really and that is no different now.

“I’ve got aspirations of playing internationally and things like that and it all starts with the hard work put in on the training field every day, and then performing on a weekend.

“I’m here to improve the team and I’m here to improve myself.”

Any title-challenging side needs a number of strong players in every position, and Evalds has welcomed the competition for the full-back spot at Wheldon Road.

He has joined up with old teammate Gareth O’Brien, who will also be vying for the number one spot at the Tigers.

“There is competition everywhere, that’s what you need, and it keeps you on your toes. I’ve had it before, competition for places makes you play better and it’s what a team like Castleford needs,” he said.

“You don’t want to get complacent so having that within your team is good and we’re all excited for the challenge of it.

“It will make us work hard in training too and push us that extra bit.”

He added: “There is some quality players here and we will build on that over pre-season and come the first game that should be looking pretty fluent.”