Super League 2020 Preview - Catalans Dragons

Catalans Dragons finished 2019 with five defeats in a row. That is not a startling statistic in itself. Since they entered the competition in 2006 the French side have been the dictionary definition of inconsistency. Traditionally strong at home but comically bad on their travels, so the story goes. Yet if they had won just three of those five games at the end of last year, and in among them were very winnable fixtures with Huddersfield, Hull KR, London and Leeds, they would have qualified for the playoffs.

Despite the surprisingly narrow margin between success and failure the Dragons’ 2019 season will be remembered as one of mediocrity. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. The Dragons’ 2018 Challenge Cup Final win over Warrington was meant to be the start of something big. That first piece of silverware was set to be the catalyst for Steve McNamara’s side to push on and become regular challengers not just in the cup but also for the Super League title. Will that promise finally come to fruition in 2020?

Don’t hold your breath. McNamara has added former Australian international halfback James Maloney to the ranks but aside from that there hasn’t been massive surgery on a squad which underachieved in 2019. Maloney has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders not just for his own game but also in helping to bring out the best in his often wayward new team-mates. At 33 years old he has a wealth of experience, playing close to 250 NRL games in spells with Melbourne, New Zealand Warriors, Sydney Roosters, Cronulla Sharks and Penrith Panthers. Yet at his age Maloney is clearly not a signing for the long term. His impact needs to be immediate.

It could be an all new halfback partnership in Perpignan with Josh Drinkwater returning from an underwhelming year at Hull KR to replace Widnes-bound Matty Smith. Drinkwater was pivotal to that Challenge Cup success in 2018 and McNamara will hope that alongside Maloney he can reignite the spark that was missing all too often last term. Tony Gigot was a talented if frustrating presence but his departure places more responsibility on Drinkwater, Maloney and Sam Tomkins to create attacking opportunities. Lucas Albert may face another frustrating year waiting for an opportunity after making just 14 appearances last year.

Strike centre Brayden Williame has also left which is a major blow, though there is try-scoring potential in Tom Davies who takes the most well-trodden path in rugby league from Wigan to the south of France. They must do some fabulous pies in Perpignan. Davies suffered a terrible double fracture of his leg in Wigan’s Good Friday loss to Saints so it will be interesting to see if he can return to the form which made him a regular in a Wigan side overloaded with talented wingmen. The rest of the backline looks a little flaky in truth. David Mead is proven quality at either centre or fullback but Lewis Tierney has never really convinced since arriving from Wigan. Fouad Yaha is a powerful unit and a capable finisher but doesn’t quite have the kind of jet-heeled pace to trouble the very best edge defenders. Samisoni Langi is versatile but is another whose consistency has to be called into question.

Another year, another Tomkins as Joel arrives to play alongside brother Sam once more. Sadly Joel has been more notable for his behaviour in Wigan bars than for anything he has done on a rugby league field in the last few years. It would be a major surprise if we were to see anything like the Joel Tomkins of his first spell at Wigan. He will fight it out for a back row spot alongside the dependable Matt Whitley and the established old guard of Benjamin Garcia, Jason Baitieiri, Alrix Da Costa. Kenny Edwards has departed for Huddersfield amid some very public proclamations about his struggles with alcohol. Up front Sam Kasiano is the big-hitter alongside the excellent veteran Remi Casty, Mickael Simon, Julian Bousquet and Antoni Maria, while another ex-Wigan man Mickey McIlorum pulls the strings at hooker.

A good start could be vital to build up some momentum and there is an opportunity for that thanks to the fixture computer. Huddersfield Giants, a side who have flirted with relegation regularly over the last few years, provide the opposition at the Stade Gilbert Brutus on the opening weekend before a trip to a Wakefield side who only avoided the drop themselves on the final day of last season. Castleford Tigers visit in round three but the Dragons’ first really daunting assignment isn’t until March 1 when they go to the equally schizophrenic Hull FC in round 5. The round 4 visit to St Helens will have to wait as the champions are involved in the World Club Challenge against Sydney Roosters on February 22.

If the Dragons are to improve on their 2019 showing there are some obvious areas that should attract McNamara’s attention. Only two teams scored fewer than the Dragons’ 92 tries (3.17 per game compared with Saints’ league-leading 163 at 5.62 per game), while only Hull KR missed more tackles than the Catalans side in the last campaign. The Dragons are the least likely of any side to run out from dummy half and perhaps finding a way to get those cheap metres that other teams benefit from so much more often could be one of the keys to improving performance. Discipline must also improve as McNamara’s side were the only team to have more than one red card in the entire season.

It's almost impossible to consider the Dragons’ prospects without discussing their away form. The common conception is that they struggle on their travels and that was proven last season as they managed only five victories on the road compared with eight on home soil. They did not win away again after beating the Giants 32-28 on July 12, falling to all of Salford, Leeds, Wigan and Huddersfield again (loop fixtures, pah!). Meanwhile at home they beat four of the eventual top five. Salford Red Devils were the exception in a quite inexplicable 46-0 towelling on March 9 which came just a week after the Dragons had edged Warrington 23-22 in a thriller. It was just so..so…Catalans.

The jury has not had to deliberate for long on the question of the Dragons’ prospects for 2020. It is difficult to see them making it into the top five but equally they should produce their best rugby often enough to make relegation something that others have to worry about. Whether another finish just outside the playoff places will be enough to satisfy the board that McNamara is the right man to take the club forward is one of the big questions of 2020. His style does not endear him to fans and another season in which his troops fall short of making the end of season crap shoot could place him under unbearable pressure.