Castleford Tigers coach Craig Lingard says his worst fears were realised when in-form forward Matty English was recalled from his loan at Castleford Tigers.
Calling English back was high on interim boss Luke Robinson’s agenda when he took over the Giants’ hot seat from Ian Watson last week.
And with Huddersfield losing Andre Savelio and Sam Hewitt to bans, alongside the injured Joe Greenwood, in last Saturday’s defeat at Leigh Leopards, Lingard wasn’t shocked when the phone rang at the start of this week.
Speaking at his weekly preview press conference today (Friday), Lingard admitted losing English is “very disappointing”, but conceded: “He’s not our player and Huddersfield were in control of his destiny.
“The coach who has taken over wants him back and they lost a few players last week as well. I watched their game and knew what was going to come 24 hours later.”
Sylvester Namo will replace English in the Tigers’ side to face Catalans Dragons on Sunday, but Lingard admitted the Giants man is a big loss.
