Tigers v Giants: Teams
Martin Aspinwall is set for his Castleford debut against former employers Huddersfield on Saturday.
Last Updated: 18/02/11 6:08pm
Martin Aspinwall is set to make his Castleford Tigers debut against former employers Huddersfield Giants at the Jungle on Saturday.
Winger-turned-forward Aspinwall was held out of last week's Millennium Magic victory over Wakefield Wildcats to allow him extra time to recover from a shoulder operation.
He gets his chance in the only change to the Tigers' 19-man squad as a replacement for the suspended Steve Snitch.
"He (Aspinwall) was probably just a little bit short of being right for last week so we gave him an extra week," explained Castleford head coach Terry Matterson, who is happy with the player's switch to the pack.
"He's pretty new to the forwards, although he did a pretty good job for Huddersfield, where he put quite bit of weight on."
Threat
Matterson is expecting Huddersfield to provide a stern test and picked out hooker Shaun Lunt as a particular threat.
"I was really pleased with some of the things we did last week but we've identified a couple of areas where we need to improve," he added.
"I was disappointed with our goal-line defence and, with Shaun Lunt scooting out of dummy half, that's something we need to look at."
Castleford academy graduates Joe Arundel, Oliver Holmes, Adam Milner and Jonathan Walker - all still under 21 - retain their places, while 17-year-old hooker Daryl Clark is included for the first time.
But Richard Owen, Ryan McGoldrick and new signing Nick Fozzard all remain sidelined by injury.
Unchanged
The Giants have named the same 19-man squad that was on duty for the season-opening win over Warrington in Cardiff last week.
There is no place for new arrival Dale Ferguson, who joined from Wakefield earlier in the week.
Coach Nathan Brown saw his side start their campaign in impressive fashion but insists there is still plenty of room for improvement.
He said: "We've got to improve and back up some of the stuff we did on the weekend and we have to be mentally and physically ready to come to the party this week and challenge Castleford in that area.
"We are quite aware of how threatening Castleford are, they are one of the more unpredictable and better attacking sides in Super League. If you give them a bit of slack they can be a very dangerous team."
Castleford squad: Mathers, Dixon, Youngquest, Arundel, Chase, Orr, Jackson, Hudson, Huby, Emmitt, Ferres, Jones, Walker, Milner, Isa, Fozzard, Aspinwall, Holmes, Widders
Huddersfield squad: Grix, Lawrence, Cudjoe, Gilmour, Hodgson, Brown, Brough, Crabtree, D. Griffin, O'Donnell, Fa'alogo, Faiumu, Lunt, Mason, Patrick, Horne, McGillvary, Carlile, Molloy