Castleford Tigers v Hull FC: Betfred Super League preview, tips & TV details

Where to watch

Sky Sports Arena, 7.45pm Thursday

Best bets

Hull FC +4
4pts 10-11 Betfred
Albert Kelly to score a try
2pts 9-4 Betfred

Castleford v Hull preview

The Betfred Super League Grand Final is now just over a month away and six teams remain in contention for one of the five playoff places.

St Helens and Wigan have already secured their spots with Warrington and Salford well placed to join them.

Hull and Castleford are fifth and sixth in the table and the clash of those clubs at The Jungle has the feel of a playoff to make the playoffs.

The Tigers will leapfrog their opponents with a win but defeat will effectively end their Old Trafford dreams.

The Black & Whites will guarantee a top-five finish if they pick up the points but a loss would leave their hopes of making the post-season hanging by a thread with their final regular-season match against table-toppers St Helens.

Bookmakers make Cas 8-11 favourites to stay in the race with Hull 7-5 to prevail and the layers may have been overly generous in affording the visitors a four-point start on the handicap.

Admittedly, Lee Radford’s team have had a miserable run since their semi-final exit at the hands of Warrington in the Coral Challenge Cup in July.

Since then, they’ve suffered three successive damaging home defeats which have put their playoff place in peril but in the midst of that run, Hull won at Wakefield to claim a tenth Super League victory on their travels in 2019. Only Saints can match that road record.

One of the away wins came at The Jungle in June when the Black & Whites scored four second-half tries to recover from a 14-4 interval deficit to win 31-18.

Mercurial half-back Albert Kelly notched a hat-trick that night and the Australian returns from injury alongside key forward Mark Minichiello and flying winger Ratu Naulago.

Kelly also touched down in May’s home Challenge Cup triumph over the Tigers. He has notched 14 times in 20 appearances and has scored in 11 of those outings.

Those stats make the 9-4 that Kelly gets on the scoresheet again look a big price. The 9-1 that the former Hull KR is named man of the match can also be considered.

Cas have a fair home record but overall it has been a patchy season for the 2017 League Leaders’ Shield winners and the visitors look the value with a handy four-point cushion.

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