Cas announce capture of Wakefield’s Joe Westerman from 2022

Castleford Tigers have today announced that they have agreed a two-year deal with forward Joe Westerman. He will return to the Mend-A-Hose Jungle from Wakefield Trinity at the start of the 2022 campaign.

One of the top performers in Super League this season to date with Trinity, Westerman is from Pontefract and began his career with the Tigers, bursting onto the scene during their 2007 Championship winning season. During that campaign, the forward scored a try in the Grand Final to help the club return to rugby league’s top flight before scoring 12 tries in 25 appearances in the 2008 Super League season aged just 19.

At that time, Westerman was spoken about as one of the most promising talents in the game, and this continued until he left for Hull FC in 2010, with the Black and Whites paying one of their highest ever transfer fees to secure his services. Now aged 31 and over 10 years on from his last appearance for Cas, Westerman has since played for numerous other clubs including Warrington Wolves and Toronto Wolfpack as well as current side Wakefield. Despite this, he says his love for the Tigers has never faded.

“Since I was a young kid, I have always supported Cas. My whole family around me support Cas and it has always been a big club in my eyes. From being a kid and supporting them, to now where they are up there with some quality players, it is something I am really looking forward to. The standard is really high now and I just want to get there and play well for my hometown club next year.”

The move will see Westerman link up with former Head Coach Lee Radford again, who he worked under for five seasons at Hull FC and made 126 appearances.

Lee Radford is also set to join Cas from 2022, to replace the outgoing Daryl Powell, and speaking about Westerman’s signing, admitted that he holds the forward in very high regard.

“Joe is in very good form, and he is in a good place in his life. He is at a point in his career that he has a couple of years to win something. In my opinion, he should have more international caps than he has but for whatever reason, that hasn’t happened. I honestly think for a ball playing ‘thirteen’, there aren’t too many better in the competition at the minute.”

So far, Westerman does have just the one senior international cap – earned in 2014 during his first spell with Hull FC – but he could add to that this week having been called up into Shaun Wane’s England squad for Friday’s meeting with the Combined Nations All-Stars.

Speaking to Castleford’s official website about his move, Westerman wanted to pay tribute to current side Wakefield for their support in allowing him to return to the peak of his powers. Trinity had been hopeful of keeping the Yorkshireman, but their efforts were not enough to sway him away from joining hometown club Castleford.

The forward will though conclude the 2021 campaign with Trinity before moving the eight miles across to the Mend-A-Hose Jungle this summer.

“I’m loving my time at Wakefield, and I have the utmost respect for the club and the people in it. It has made me enjoy my rugby again and I have a lot to thank Wakefield for. I have realised the little things you have to do away from the pitch to make you a better player.”

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