Matterson hoping to make history

(Getty)

The Castleford Tigers coach, Terry Matterson, admits he may have to guard against complacency after guiding the Tigers to their best start to a Super League campaign for 10 years.

Matterson suffered the ignominy of relegation in his first season in charge of the West Yorkshire club in 2006 and saw them collect the wooden spoon on their return to the top flight last year.

But three wins from their opening four matches has lifted Castleford into third place and they could hit top spot for the first time in the Super League era if they make it four wins in a row at the expense of Huddersfield Giants on Saturday and Leeds Rhinos lose to Wigan Warriors on Friday.

"It's good to be on the other side, it's been a while," Matterson said. "I'm sure the fans are pretty excited. "I'd rather see us there [top] than where we have been. We're not going to hide from it, we want to stay in the top eight – that's what it's all about.

"We've got a lot of senior guys who are realistic and they know how long the season is. We've been through a lot of tough times and the spirits have been down, but now spirits are up we've got to make sure it doesn't turn into over-confidence."

Castleford twice got as high as third in 1999 when they won four of their opening five matches. Under another Australian, Stuart Raper, they finished fifth and won at both Wigan and Leeds in the play-offs before falling one match short of Old Trafford.

Last Saturday's thrilling 24-22 win over Catalan Dragons in Perpignan demonstrated that their win at Wigan in round two was no fluke and was the first time in six years they had won three in a row. "Somebody mentioned that," Matterson said. "We're really pleased with how we're doing."

* The St Helens prop Maurie Fa'asavalu has been handed a one-match ban by after being found guilty of an illegal tackling technique during Saints' 4-0 win over Celtic Crusaders in Bridgend. The Samoa-born England international was punished by the RFL's disciplinary panel for a "chicken-wing" tackle, which places undue pressure on the joints of players.