League: Guttenbeil signs with Castleford

Awen Guttenbeil says he still has a couple of good seasons left in him as a player. Picture / Brett Phibbs

Awen Guttenbeil will end up at Castleford after all after signing a two-year deal as player-assistant coach, ending a long-running contract saga.

The 30-year-old, who is in the Kiwis Tri Nations squad, had originally signed with the club to play in the Super League but that contract was void when they were relegated. He then agreed to join Widnes if they went back up - but they lost the promotion game to Hull KR.

Having left the Warriors at the end of the NRL season, he signed up yesterday with Castleford even though they will play in division one next season.

Guttenbeil will work alongside coach and former Brisbane Broncos forward Terry Matterson, and said: "It's a good opportunity. Coaching is something that certainly interests me and this will give me a chance to dip my toes into it while I'm still playing.

"I still feel I have a couple of years left in me and, as a lot of former team-mates say, you're a long time retired.

"I wanted to play Super League or NRL but there's a chance to get the team back to the Super League. I was holding out to go to England and had a pretty good offer from an NRL club, but I didn't want to play against the Warriors."

Guttenbeil had 11 seasons with the Warriors. He played 170 games - second only to Stacey Jones's 238.

Darren Lockyer this week set his sights on leading Australia at the 2008 World Cup - but counterpart Ruben Wiki can't confirm he will be at the tournament in Australia.

The Kiwis skipper will be 35 and, although he still hopes to be playing for the Warriors (his contract runs out in 2008), it's too hard to predict his Kiwis future. "It's a bit far down the track," he said before last night's first Tri Nations test.

Wiki last night extended his world record to 51 test appearances.

Lockyer dispelled rumours that he was about to retire from the international game to prolong his club career with Brisbane.

"My goal is to try and get to the World Cup if I'm playing well enough," he said.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY