Castleford Tigers centre Kirk Dixon has been ruled out of the rest of the season.

The 27-year-old goalkicker is to undergo major spinal surgery that will sideline him for at least six months.

Dixon defied his serious injury to play in yesterday’s 34-30 Stobart Super League win over Salford City Reds due to a shortage of outside backs.

Castleford coach coach Ian Millward said: “It was very courageous of Kirk to play yesterday.

“He has been losing power in his right arm for a number of weeks now and in actual fact he was down to 10% power when tested last week.

“His season would have ended before yesterday had it not been for Josh Griffin picking up a knock against Bradford.

“We needed him to play one more game so we patched him and told him how brave he was.

“However, it’s quite a major operation. It’s a bit to do with his spine and also the vertebrae on his neck.”

Dixon, who joined Castleford from Hull FC in 2007, had a shoulder reconstruction in the winter after sustaining a season-ending injury in the Tigers’ Carnegie Challenge Cup semi-final defeat by Leeds Rhinos last August.

He also spent six months on the sidelines in 2009 after a tear in his right calf failed to heal properly, resulting in a blood clot which spread to his lungs.