I think Bateman ,smithies, or knowles will be given the loose forward spot ahead of Westerman .Wayne is a terrific coach and will play the best available to him ,so I’m afraid I don’t see a fairy tail swan song for westers ,but never say never and a lot could happen between now and the games later in the year .

Well that'll make a pleasant change then. I can't remember the last England coach that managed to do that.

Personally I think Westerman should have a really good shout on his current form, but I don't see it happening. I have very little faith in Wane seeing beyond club badges in the same way as his predecessors have failed to do so.

We have offered Joe a very good deal, in terms of a % its actually around 30% higher than what Cas have tabled as an offer.

No deal is signed as of yet but Joe is still talking and has expressed his desire to finish his career at Cas, as I say no deal signed yet.

On current form JW should be in and he's playing a game at LF that nobody else offers, linking the forwards and backs seamlessly. That said I think Knowles will probably get the LF berth with Bateman and Whitehead 2nd rows...would love to be proven wrong tho and hope his current form and fitness lasts for as long as he stays at BV
As far as McMeeken, I acknowledge his shortcomings, as pointed out by several posters on this thread and admit that he needs to continue his current form throughout the season but if he does he could well have a role to play as an impact bench player...in much the same way as Cohen Hess was used by N QLd Cowboys when he first broke through

Wow 30% is a big difference! Hopefully one final decent deal will sway him to stay with us as he has been by far our best player in my opinion, a ball handling loose forward of his calibre is a rare commodity, he’s properly become a pillar of our team in attack and defence!!

That's a weird combination of first and second names!

I know what you mean. Seems strange with the famous Hess being who he is but I looked it up once and Hess is actually a surname that just references a place in southern Germany.
Like someone being called Wakefield, or Brough or Chester.

Before 1930s there was a large Jewish population in Germany so the names would go together.

Saying all that, I'm not sure how that surname was passed down to family in Queensland. No German connections there.

Confirmed for next year.

Castleford Tigers are thrilled to announce Joe Westerman has signed a two-year deal with the Club from the 2022 season!

Going to take some replacing.

Yeah he’s been great for us but I thought Arona always did a good job at 13. Not forgetting Brad Walker.

we lost another player who has been our best

Can’t replace him I’m afraid , very few ball playing loose forwards of his Caliber about and even rarer at a price we can afford . But we regroup and move on and thank him for his time with us , which has been special .

Can't blame him for taking the option of a two year deal especially at the club where it all started for him. Would love to read up some posts from a couple of years ago when it first came to light that he was leaving Hull to join us. I'll bet not many expected him to achieve these current dizzy heights.