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Mason signs in at castleford

RLdan

Juniors
Messages
114
Promoted club Castleford have completed the signing of St Helens' Wales international prop forward Keith Mason and moved closer to capturing former Warrington front rower Danny Nutley.

The 23-year-old Mason had a year left on his contract at Saints but has agreed a 12-month loan deal with the Tigers, where he will join former Wigan prop Danny Sculthorpe.

Mason started his professional career with Wakefield, although he had a brief spell with Castleford's junior academy, before moving to Australia for a stint with Melbourne Storm, where he played under new Tigers coach Terry Matterson for their feeder club, Brisbane Norths.

"We have been looking to bring Keith to the club for some time and we are all very pleased that we have been able to conclude a deal," said Castleford chief executive Richard Wright.

"Keith is a big strong forward and, along with Danny Sculthorpe gives us two young prop forwards who have a lot of belief in themselves, are ambitious and are very keen to make their mark at the Jungle.

"We hope to announce more new signings over the next couple of days and when those deals are completed and announced we think the fans will start to gain confidence in our ability to compete in Super League next season."

One of the imminent signings is thought to be the 31-year-old Nutley, who has been released from the final year of his contract with Cronulla Sharks.

Nutley, who played for Warrington before joining Cronulla in 2002, has agreed a two-year contract with the Tigers.



"The Sharks have supported me 100% during the four years I've been and the club and they are continuing to support me by allowing me a release and the opportunity to accept the Castleford offer. I'm very grateful to the club for that," Nutley told the Cronulla website, www.sharks.com.au. "At this point in my career, I'm 31 with a family to look after and the Castleford offer is a very attractive one."



Cronulla coach Stuart Raper, formerly in charge of Castleford and Wigan, said: "I really enjoyed working with Danny. We will definitely miss his toughness and competitiveness. "It was a difficult decision to grant him the release, but life goes on. It is a great opportunity for him over there at Castleford."
 

bartman

Immortal
Messages
41,022
Good to see Cas taking the opportunity to pick up on young native Brit players, who in tern will get more of an opportunity for game time with Cas.
 
Messages
5,746
Looks like Cas' recruitment drive is finally starting to get underway...It's a shame they've already missed out on so many players. Mason and Nutley should be good buys though.
 

jed

First Grade
Messages
9,280
Unfortunately it's always going to be the way for newly promoted sides.

Top quality players aren't going to want to hang around to see who's promoted, there may end up being nowhere available that can offer them the money they could get earlier, and established sides aren't going to hold off on signing players, knowing that it leaves less superstars for them.

Cas will hopefully do well this season, and follow up with some great signings for the 07 season.
 

ParraDude_Jay

First Grade
Messages
6,160
So I take it Mason is a good buy? He'd wanna be alot better than he was with Melbourne, that's for sure.

If the Dykes > Castleford rumour is true then they'll be looking ALOT better next year.
 

JasonE

Bench
Messages
3,107
Mason was only 19/20yo back then, I think he'll definitley get plenty of game time now with Cas and he should mature into a good quality prop. They will have a decent pack thats for sure with D Scully, Nutley, Huby and a fully fit Fletcher. If they get the experienced Dykes he should be a good partner for the youngster Andy Kain.
 

RLdan

Juniors
Messages
114
cas need some decent players, mason should be one of them. i think they need around 3 more to complete their squad.
 

freeridermx

Juniors
Messages
395
i rated mason when he was with the storm . but muarry didnt give him a go or anyone else for that matter storm lost a few younger players in that time for this reason . whats doing with sibbit now where is he havent heard much of him he was impressive when at the storm but anyone was thinking it was going to be mason and sibbit was going for a holiday.
 

Fairleigh Good!

Juniors
Messages
1,185
Mason at the Storm was what 21? That is extremely young for a regular starter in the front row.

He was great for Saints for a season then fell behind Maurie Fa'asavalu when he got injured. Maurie hasn't given him chance to get back in and it didn't look likely he ever would.

Mason is still very young but is a good solid prop, with good mobility. He has a reputation for being dirty and giving away needless penalties, but I've not noticed that at Saints. I rate him highly.
 

phonetic

Juniors
Messages
1,626
Weasels Ripped My Flesh said:
Manu....hmmmmm...may not be the best buy in the world there :S

Manu did some good things for us this year (namely getting under Michael Crocker's skin in the memorable ANZAC day match) and I think he'll do very well over there.

Just got to keep him in line.
 

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