Longer contract for Lennon
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Your support makes all the difference.Mark Lennon, the little-known Australian who arrived at Castleford, because his mother knew the coach's mother, has been rewarded for his outstanding form with an extended contract.
Lennon was playing in the reserves at St George-Illawarra when his mum mentioned to the mother of Stuart Raper, who was then the Tigers coach, that his ambition was to play in England. He was given only an initial six-month contract, but his versatility has seen him play in every game so far this season in a variety of positions, culminating in a man of the match display at scrum-half in the victory over Hull on Saturday.
His new contract will keep him at The Jungle until the end of the 2002 season and Graham Steadman, who succeeded Raper last month, said: "I'm delighted that Mark has committed himself to the club. It was obvious when he joined us that he had a lot of potential and he has developed in his time here.
"He is very keen and enthusiastic about the game and if he continues to work hard he could become a big name."
The Castleford chief executive, Richard Wright, said that other Super League clubs had been monitoring the 20-year-old Lennon as he approached the end of his contract.
"Mark was given a six-month deal because we knew very little about him, although our checks told us that he was a very promising young player and he has certainly proved that to be the case," he said.
Lennon's mother could also be responsible for giving him a chance at international level next month. She was born in Cardiff and Wales are known to be considering him for the match against England at Wrexham.
The Welsh World Cup prop, Dave Whittle, has been warned about his future conduct over a gesture he made to the crowd after being sent off in Leigh's Trans-Pennine Cup final at Keighley last month. He was found guilty of use of the elbow, but no further action is to be taken against him over that offence.
The Rugby League is still considering whether charges should be levelled at the Leigh centre, Paul Anderson, over the alleged racial abuse of the Keighley winger, Max Tomlinson, in the same match.
A similar charge against Halifax's Jamie Bloem, relating to an Alliance match against Salford, will be heard within the next two weeks.
Wakefield Trinity have denied reports that they are in breach of their salary cap and could suffer a points deduction.
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