Castleford Tigers vs Leeds Rhinos Predictions: Newman and Rhinos to come out on top

Leeds Rhinos head to Castleford Tigers on Thursday in need of a victory after back-to-back defeats to St Helens in the past fortnight, while Tigers fans will hope that their Betfred Challenge Cup win at Batley Bulldogs can inspire an upturn in their Super League form (kick-off 20:00 GMT).

Cas and London have been the whipping boys of the season so far, having lost each of their first five games, while the Rhinos’ promising start has been dented somewhat by those Saints wins at Headingley. This could therefore be either the perfect time to play Leeds, or the worst, should Rohan Smith’s side decide to unleash hell at The Jungle. Here are Betfred's Castleford Tigers vs Leeds Rhinos predictions...

Team news

Castleford had a double boost this week when both Paul McShane and Alex Mellor were cleared to play against their former club. The pair were charged with dangerous contact in the cup win at Batley but have escaped without bans. 

Full-back Luke Hooley - another of the six former Rhinos in the Cas side - came off injured at Mount Pleasant so misses out, but Josh Hodson could be handed his Super League debut after making his first appearance at the weekend. Half-back Rowan Milnes tweaked his hamstring at Batley so Danny Richardson will return.  Daniel Hindmarsh-Takyi is named in the squad for the first time. 

Leeds name an unchanged squad despite an ankle injury for Paul Momirovski, who has trained this week. Rhyse Martin will play centre if Momirovski fails to fully recover.

Leeds Rhinos -10 points @ 21/20

Castleford are always fired up against Leeds on home soil and I expect them to have a right go. Craig Lingard’s side have had some pretty scarring defeats already in 2024 and will have to go hard down the middle to prevent this being another. 

Leeds on the other hand were awful against Saints last week, but probably should have beaten them the week before. So who knows which Rhinos will turn up. If it’s last week’s disjointed mob then Cas have a chance. If not, they will lose, and I see enough quality in this Leeds team to predict they will bounce back with a win here, and cover the handicap.

Harry Newman anytime tryscorer @ 5/4

The exciting but injury-prone England centre has been an ever-present so far this season and is one of the Rhinos’ most devastating attacking threats.

A try scorer and try creator, if Leeds are in the mood that will generally mean that Newman is on song.

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