Hull FC v Castleford Tigers: momentum important in tight Super League race says Alex Mellor

Mellor joined Castleford from Leeds Rhinos midway through last season, which ended with them seventh in the table

Tigers missed out on a play-offs place in the final eight minutes of the campaign, after being pipped by Leeds, but Mellor insisted they are “quietly confident” of a better year ahead, beginning at Hull on Sunday.

“We aren’t going to shout from the rooftops about how well we are going to do,” he pledged. “That is all kept in-house. We know the competition is going to be strong this year, teams have strengthened pretty well and we’re going to have to perform at our best every week.

“But I think momentum is a big thing in sport and how we start, in the first couple of weeks, is really going to determine this block of the season.

“Our focus is on performance and getting a couple of tough wins in the first four or five games. We’ve got a pretty tough start so it’s about knuckling down and trying to perform.”

Tigers played four pre-season games, beating Keighley Cougars, Whitehaven and Huddersfield Giants after a second-string side lost to Featherstone Rovers.