Castles informed the Raiders on Thursday night that he would be unable to fulfil his commitments at Birallee Park and wanted to return to the Tallangatta and District Football League.

The classy forward signed with the Ovens and Murray club in July.

Raiders recruiting officer Nic Conway said the Raiders had accepted Castles decision.

“He’s decided to stay at Yack because his circumstances have changed,” Conway said.

“He made a commitment to us a long time ago.

“We are fully supportive of it and realise that if he can’t commit to the level it wouldn’t do anyone any good.

“We have had an awesome pre-season in regards to recruiting and the theme of our summer has been to provide the opportunities for kids to come to our club and play senior O and M football.”

Castles, 25, kicked 59 goals for a struggling Yackandandah this season despite spending time up the ground and managed 87 in 2012 under coach Liam Clayton.

He previously played in premierships with Albury in 2009 and Jindera in 2008 and 2011.

Conway said his departure hadn’t put a dampener on the club’s pre-season recruiting under co-coaches Ken Stevenson and Ben Klemke.

“We had 226 people at our presentation night,” Conway said.

“Despite finishing last this season the mood around the place is phenomenal.”