Castleford Tigers academy star Lewis Carr explains why he opted to join Dewsbury Rams

The winger joined Lee Greenwood’s side from Castleford Tigers, having come through the ranks at the Super League club.

He comes highly rated, having broken the Tigers’ try-scoring record at academy level, claiming 39 tries in just 21 games in his second academy season.

Carr never managed a competitive first-team appearance for the Tigers but did feature in two pre-season friendlies last year.

“When I first came to the stadium and Lee Greenwood showed me around and explained the situation to me, it all interested me,” said Carr of his decision to join Dewsbury.

“He explained that the togetherness of the team was great and that they’re a bunch of hard-working players here.

“I felt that this club would be the best place for my development as the competition would be good and means I’d have to always keep working hard.

“The facilities are also great with the gym, wrestle room and 3G pitch.”

He added: “I’ve experienced a lot so far, I broke the academy try-scoring record for Castleford in my second academy year, scoring 39 tries in 21 games.

“I had a great experience with Cas, I enjoyed my time there, I had three good years with the academy and two good years with the first team.

“I got the 18th-man squad place against Wigan Warriors for the first team. I also played two friendlies for them, one against Featherstone and one against Widnes, they were both great experiences and I learnt a lot from the coaching staff.”

Carr does have previous experience of Championship rugby, having made two appearances for York City Knights on dual-registration.

He said: “I played two games for York last year and played a friendly for Castleford’s first team against Widnes and found the step up quite interesting from the academy games at Cas.

“I thought I played ok but I feel it’s a real test for me and a test I’m looking forward to taking on and hopefully getting a lot of experience from it.”

For most players, especially those outside of Super League, 2020 has been a challenge.

Carr is eager to finally return to action after such a long lay-off, admitting that training without anything to look forward to has been “mentally draining.”

He said: “My ambitions for this team are to work hard, and every time I get a chance to show Lee and the other boys that I have what it takes to hopefully get in that starting line-up every week. I just want to prove that by working hard and putting that extra work in, it will help me perform to the best I can be.

“It’s been mentally draining having to train constantly and not have anything to train towards. So there’s nothing I’m looking forward to more than getting that Dewsbury shirt on and hopefully playing in front of the fans.”