Castleford Tigers have appointed Paul Rowley as their head coach on a three-year contract.

Rowley had been out of work since leaving St Helens in July, halfway through his first season in charge.

The Tigers had been without a head coach following the departure of Australian Ryan Carr in August for personal reasons.

Castleford finished second bottom in Super League with only eight wins from their 27 games, but received an A score in the IMG ratings released last week.

The Tigers will be the third Super League club Rowley has been in charge of after Salford Red Devils and then Saints.

He led Salford into the play-offs in 2022 and 2024, playing an exciting style of rugby before severe financial issues took over and he eventually left the club.

It landed him the job at St Helens, but after an injury-hit difficult spell, he departed with the club sixth in the table, with Saints eventually missing out on the play-offs.

He now moves over to West Yorkshire, and a Castleford team who have not reached the play-offs since 2019 and have just seen local rivals Wakefield Trinity win the Grand Final.

Cas were only kept off the bottom of Super League by Bradford Bulls, with the club hoping he can be the man to rejuvenate them.

“Paul has a proven track record of building competitive teams, developing players and creating an attacking brand of rugby that supporters can get behind,” said Castleford director of rugby Chris Chester.

“He has a real passion for the game, strong leadership qualities and a clear vision of how he wants his teams to play.”

It hasn’t taken long for Paul Rowley’s enthusiasm for rugby league to get the better of him and put him right back in the hurly-burly world of Super League with Castleford.

In fairness, there’s been plenty of time for the 51-year-old to refresh his mind between standing down as coach at St Helens and the official, formal release which occurred a few weeks ago.

He’s got plenty to do with Cas too, so no time like the present to get stuck in and mastermind the kind of team-building job he managed so impressively before at Leigh, Toronto and Salford.

Incoming NRL imports like Damien Cook, Mat Feagai and Tyrell Sloan will certainly help in that, as will Robbie Mulhern to beef up the pack, while Rowley’s close relationship with director of rugby Chris Chester from their Halifax days could also be a crucial factor.

There was a fair list of departures at the end of last season so there is possibly wriggle room in terms of bringing people in.

Traditionally, Rowley’s teams have been renowned for a varied and entertaining attacking style, and with ‘Classy Cas’ the mantra at Wheldon Road, in theory it’s an ideal fit.

Rowley certainly did not become a bad coach overnight after he was unable to complete the job at Saints.

Cas fans will hope for a similar result to rivals Wakefield, who have soared to success since appointing Daryl Powell after his similarly unfruitful time at Warrington.