Castleford disclose their interest in disgraced Australian Joel Monaghan

Castleford will make a determined effort to bring Joel Monaghan to the Jungle next season after discovering that the notoriety of the former Australia centre has brought him into their price range. Terry Matterson, the Tigers coach who worked with Monaghan for three years at Canberra, ruled out a bid for the 28-year-old last week on the assumption that Castleford could not afford him. But Monaghan's agent has been forced to drop his asking price as a result of the compromising photographs that appeared on Twitter 10 days ago. "I knew the money Joel was on at Canberra, so initially I didn't think we'd have a chance," said Matterson. "But I do know he's a good person as well as a very good rugby league player and on that basis we've got to have a look at whether we can add him to our squad. "He's made a very bad mistake but we all make mistakes at times and he's not killed anyone. I'd like to sit down and speak with him to see how he is mentally, because it's been pretty tough for him in Canberra." Monaghan, who gave up the remaining year on his contract with Canberra to spare the club any further embarrassment, has already made arrangements to fly to England this month to begin pre-season training. He will stay with his elder brother, Michael, who is preparing for his third season with Warrington, leading to speculation that he may join the Challenge Cup holders. But the Wolves coach, Tony Smith, says that is impossible because the club have a full overseas quota and little flexibility under the salary cap and, with a similar situation at most of the Super League clubs, Hull and the Crusaders may be Castleford's major rivals. The Rugby Football League suffered a major embarrassment when the St George Illawarra Dragons raised doubts about their participation in the World Club Challenge against Wigan in February on the same day that tickets went on sale. "We would obviously like to be involved in what is a highly regarded event but there is no obligation on us to play," the Dragons chief executive, Peter Doust, told the Sydney Morning Herald. "At this stage we are still trying to work around what is a highly complex set of circumstances but we are certainly not interested in going if we can't meet the special needs of our club." The National Rugby League champions are driving a hard financial bargain after their request to stage the game in Sydney was rejected and are also leaning on the Australian authorities to allow them to play their traditional Charity Shield fixture against South Sydney on 13 February, to avoid a clash with the Wigan game that has been arranged for the DW Stadium two weeks later. Wigan's chairman, Ian Lenagan, refused to comment, saying that the RFL has responsibility for the fixture. But he and the League remain confident that the game will go ahead as planned.