NEWLY appointed Castleford director of rugby Jon Wells said yesterday that the club will take a step backwards if they fail to win major silverware in 2018.

The Tigers won the Super League leaders’ shield in 2017 for the first time in the club’s history after finishing 10 points clear of nearest rivals Leeds, but lost out to the Rhinos in the Grand Final.

Wells, who will combine the newly created part-time role with his job as a pundit with Sky Sports, says another top table finish would not be good enough on its own this year.

“I think everyone was disappointed at the way the Tigers finished,” said the former Castleford and Harlequins winger.

“Ask any neutral or armchair fan and I think the fairytale story would have been for the Tigers to go on and win that Grand Final.

“There needs to be a new name on that trophy and we fully intend to be that name. There is a very highly motivated squad this year.

“This season will be considered a step back if we don’t take home a piece of major silverware and that’s the Challenge Cup or the Grand Final. That’s fairly straigh forward.”

Wells, 39, who played 136 games for his home-town club from 1997 to 2002, says his job will be to reduce the workload on head coach Daryl Powell, the man who made the “surprise phone call” to entice him back to the Tigers.

“I never had ambitions to be a coach and that’s why this is so appealing,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to rejoin club rugby which I’m incredibly pleased about.

“I can sit in the background and take the distractions away from Daryl and allow him to do what he does best.

“They have a fairly thin backroom staff. I’ll look after contract negotiations, recruitment and retention but a big part of my remit will be looking at the player pathway, how the academy and scholars link up.

“I’ve always been a big advocate of the reserve-grade system and I have a feeling that there may be discussions going above me game-wide.

“And I’d be very pleased to see a positive response to that because that is something we’ll be looking to implement.”