Castleford have suffered more half-back injury woe with the loss of Jamie Ellis for up to six months with a knee problem.
Already without England international Luke Gale for the entire 2019 season with a ruptured Achilles tendon, the Tigers are resigned to being without their other specialist scrum-half until the summer.
"Jamie was going to play in the (pre-season friendly) Featherstone game, but he hurt his knee in the warm-up," said coach Daryl Powell.
"We tried to rehab him, but he went to see the specialist today and he needs a micro-fracture in his knee, which is similar to what Luke Gale had.
"He'll be having that done tomorrow and the potential recovery time is between four and six months so he could be back in June or July depending on how he recovers.
"It's a tough one for him. We'll look after him and try and get him back as soon as we can."
Castleford were given special salary cap dispensation by the Rugby Football League to sign a replacement for Gale, although they have yet to take up that option.
Powell has further back-up in Ben Roberts and Cory Aston, while recent signing Jordan Rankin made an encouraging start in the scrum-half role in the Tigers' opening Super League win of the season against Catalans Dragons last Friday.
Rankin has kept his place alongside Jake Trueman, the reigning Super League young player of the year, for Thursday's round two game at Hull.
