Season Preview 2024 - Hull FC

The Story Of 2023…

Hull FC fans might have expected better. When Tony Smith joined the club as Head Coach in September 2022 there was reason for optimism. He had won two Super League Grand Finals with Leeds Rhinos and two Challenge Cups with Warrington Wolves. He’d coached England and Great Britain. After an initial struggle he then guided Hull KR to the playoffs. What was not to like about the arrival of a proven winner who was joining having recently left your most bitter rivals?

Well maybe Wigan fans who can remember the brief reign of Ian Millward might have offered some words of caution to over-excited FC fans. If Smith is going to be the success he has been elsewhere it is turning out to be a gradual process. The black and whites finished a dismal 10th in 2023, winning only 10 of their 27 league matches. Smith or no Smith, it was another campaign in which a clearly talented squad failed to get it together as a cohesive team.

It started brightly with wins over Castleford and Leeds before seven consecutive defeats followed. A couple of them were chastening humiliations. Plenty of sides could lose 38-6 to Catalans in Perpignan but a 60-14 home loss to Salford Red Devils resides in the file marked ‘unacceptable’. As does a 40-0 towelling by Rovers on Good Friday. 

Beating eventual champions Wigan a month after that derby debacle was the most Hull FC thing in the world. That was the second in a three-game winning streak that was the longest run of victories that FC achieved all season. Although they gained a measure of revenge on the Robins - winning 16-6 at Sewell Group Craven Park in early July - they ended the year with six consecutive defeats. 

FC did reach the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup, beating the Tigers 32-8 away from home in the last 16. Yet they ran into Saints in the last eight. That was a match they were competitive in until Josh Griffin offered referee Chris Kendall an impromptu appraisal of his performance and was promptly sent off as the teams left the field for the half-time break. 

The 2024 Recruits.

FC have never been afraid to take a risk or two with NRL imports and this year is no exception. The biggest name among this year’s crop is probably prop or loose forward Herman Ese’ese. An international with both New Zealand and Samoa during his 9-year professional career, the 29 year-old has also clocked up almost 130 appearances in the Australian competition with spells at five different clubs. He spent 2023 with the NRL’ debutants - the Dolphins - making 20 appearances for Wayne Bennett and his assistant and three-time Super League Grand Final winner Kristian Woolf.

If the much travelled Ese’ese represents a risk it’s nothing compared to the apparent gamble involved in taking on Jayden Okunbor. The 26 year-old winger (or second row, apparently which would be a massive red flag for me if I were a Hull fan) joins from Canterbury Bulldogs where he was once a controversial figure. In 2020 he was sacked by the club after a sex scandal involving a girl he had met during a visit to a school. 

Now it should be stressed that the girl was not underage and that the subsequent encounter was consensual. Okunbor later won an appeal against his dismissal and was instead fined and asked to complete some community service. But it won’t only be me who looks at this and notes that we have seen this movie before. The one about the NRL star who gets into trouble and ends up in the UK. It can work out, but for every Joel Monaghan it feels like there are two or three Greg Birds and Todd Carneys.

Another ex-Bulldog is Fa’amanu Brown. He arrives in Humberside after a solitary season at Newcastle Knights where he managed only two appearance. A former Samoan international who switched allegiances and represented New Zealand three times in 2023, Brown can play in a number of positions including both halfback roles, hooker and loose forward. Yet if we’re looking for red flags with Hull’s imports the fact that he has only signed a one year deal arguably screams ‘shop window’. 

Prop Franklin Pele completes a trio of former Canterbury men headed for Hull. A serious injury robbed the 23 year-old of his entire 2022 season after making his NRL debut for Cronulla Sharks in 2021. Fit again, he managed only six outings for the Bulldogs in 2023 and will be hoping to reboot his career in Super League. Pele has a two-year deal and will compete for playing time with Ese’ese, Ligi Sao, Brad Fash and Jack Brown.

Coach Smith isn’t the only one on board for 2024 with previous on the other side of the city. Fullback Jack Walker spent part of 2023 with Rovers after a spell at Bradford Bulls. Now 24, Walker first turned out in Super League for Leeds Rhinos as a 17 year-old in 2017. He showed enormous promise back then but has been incredibly unlucky with injuries in the years since. The Rhinos finally gave up hope and let him go in 2022 but if he can stay fit Walker has the ability to be one of the premier fullbacks in Super League.

Liam Tindall never made quite the same impression in his four seasons at Headingley. The winger made only 21 appearances which is perhaps not that surprising when you have the likes of David Fusitu’a and Ash Handley ahead of you. Nevertheless he only crossed for two tries during that stint and was farmed out on loan to both Bradford and Doncaster. Now the 22 year-old leaves his home town Rhinos to add to Smith’s wing options which include Cameron Scott and further promising youth in 20 year-olds Harvey Baron and Davy Litten. 

Fa’amanu Brown and Jake Trueman look favourites to form the halfback pairing with Tex Hoy adding another dimension at fullback. Yet there is a further option with the arrival of Morgan Smith from Wakefield Trinity. The former Warrington man escapes a season in the Championship with the Trin by making the move east to Hull. He has plenty of experience in the second tier after spells with Rochdale, York and Featherstone but has also featured in the top flight with Warrington and London. Now 25, it feels like he needs to establish himself as a Super League player.

There is one UK based addition to the pack. Jack Ashworth played 47 times for Saints including off the bench in the 2019 Super League Grand Final win over Salford Red Devils. From there he joined Huddersfield Giants in 2020 where he has made just 20 appearances and had loan spells with Leigh, Halifax and Featherstone. Now 28, the man who made his debut for Saints at centre against Hull back in 2015 can’t have many more bites at the Super League cherry if this one doesn’t work out. 

Lastly, he (or she) won’t be making many tackles or passes in 2024 but it would be criminal not to mention the arrival of FC’s new mascot. The as yet unnamed character has been designed by a sponsor, heating solutions manufacturers Ecostrad. And well…there’s no getting away from the fact that he (or she) is a radiator. It’s the sort of attempt to make money that would make Jordan Henderson blush. That thump you heard was the airlie bird falling out of his tree.

So Who’s Out…?

Perhaps the biggest loss from the 2023 squad is halfback Jake Clifford. He returns to North Queensland Cowboys -  where he played from 2018-21 - after just one season with the airlie birds. Clifford earned widespread praise for some outstanding performances in black and white last year, though his effectiveness seemed to wane after his move back to the NRL was announced. We call that a Barba in these parts. 

While Tindall’s arrival adds depth on the wings it doesn’t seem set to compensate for the loss of Adam Swift. The 30 year-old ex-Saint was excellent last term, bagging 19 tries in Super League. Only five men in the league managed more. In all, Swift scored 36 tries in 55 games across four seasons at Hull after being edged out of his home town club by the emergence of Regan Grace. He’s now a seriously injured rugby union player but it seemed the right decision at the time. Still, it’s hard to fathom why FC would let Swift go and even harder to fathom why he would choose to join Huddersfield Giants. But then, who knows why Mollie didn’t vote for a banishment?

Ben McNamara has failed to really establish himself in the halves at Hull and he will try again at Leigh Leopards. Meanwhile three-quarter Connor Wynne - who has managed only 36 appearances at the club in five seasons - scoring 14 tries - has left to try and aid Featherstone’s bid to win the Championship and - if they receive permission from the game’s new rulers IMG - gain promotion to Super League.

Hull’s pack has also seen some turnover of staff, making it even more important that Okunbor, Pele and Ashworth make a success of their time at The MKM Stadium. Chris Satae has been one of the better impact front rowers since arriving at Hull in 2019 but it will be Catalans Dragons who benefit if that continues in 2024. Versatile Fijian Joe Lovodua has stepped down a level to join Doncaster, while Andre Savelio has made the opposite journey to Ashworth and joined Huddersfield. 

The two were team-mates at Saints until Savelio’s 2016 exit to Castleford on loan initially before a move to Warrington. A spell with Brisbane Broncos was all but ruined by injury, since when the back rower has made 58 appearances in five seasons with FC. Savelio is a skilled operator but fitness issues and - at times - attitude have prevented him from gaining consistency. If Ashworth is drinking in Super League’s Last Chance Saloon then Savelio is about to be dragged towards the exit door by a couple of burly doormen. Although it might take three of them.

Brad Dwyer has travelled around a bit since making his debut for Warrington back in 2012 and the hooker is packing his kit again, rejoining the Wolves after a solitary year in Hull. Dwyer turned out just six times for the black and whites last term, that after mostly impressing in 120 appearances for Leeds Rhinos. In one of those he picked up a Challenge Cup winners medal in 2020 as part of that year’s Wembley triumph over Salford. With Dwyer gone Fa’amanu Brown may step into the hooking role at times to allow Morgan Smith to operate in the halves although veteran dummy half Danny Houghton has just been reinstated as captain. He will expect to feature regularly despite having turned 35 in September.

While Houghton goes on there are others from last year’s group for whom retirement has already arrived. In a move with slight echoes of Denny Solomona’s Castleford exit back in 2016 (but without the outrage) Jamie Shaul has retired from rugby league at the age of 31 to play rugby union for Hull RUFC. Prop forward and former Rover Scott Taylor - a Grand Final and Challenger Cup winner with Wigan - has also called it a day after eight seasons and 178 appearances in black and white. 

What’s The Expectation? 

The expectation should be that under a coach who is a proven winner the years of underachievement should end. But for how long have FC had a squad bursting with talent without ever really threatening to challenge at the top? FC have made the playoffs just three times since 2013. The last of those was in 2020 when they were hammered 29-2 in the semi-final by Wigan. Hull is a big rugby league club which should always be pushing for involvement beyond the regular season. Yet they have missed out so often in recent years you do wonder whether their fans really do expect it.

What Will Really Happen?

I’d still back FC to improve on 10th in a 12-team competition but looking at Tony Smith’s recruitment moves I wouldn’t advise anyone to put the house on a return to the top six. With Satae, Taylor and Dwyer all gone they are suddenly reliant on having their NRL signings work out. It’s a similar story in the halves too where Fa’amanu Brown has an unenviable job in trying to live up to the standards set by Clifford - even if they were not sustained and they didn’t translate into wins even nearly often enough. 

Yet my faith in Smith as a coach is unshakeable so I still expect his side to improve. They may do so at a slower pace than he achieved at KR where a bottom of the table finish in 2020 was followed by a playoff appearance in 2021. The top eight would represent improvement and is a realistic target.

Season Preview 2024 - Huddersfield Giants

The Story Of 2023…

While there was never any danger of the Giants slipping out of the top flight they never really threatened to join the playoff party either. Ian Watson’s side had high hopes for 2023 having finished third a year previously. As it was they meandered to a disappointing eighth placed finish at the end of the regular season with a record of 11 wins and 16 losses from their 27 outings.

Watson might make the case that things could have been oh so different. There were 14-12 losses to both Wigan and Saints on consecutive weekends in March and a one-point reverse at Leeds in April.  They won in Perpignan against the Dragons in the heat of July, and recorded a 21-12 success against Rohan Smith’s side in August. Yet the 54-0 shellacking they had received from the Headingley club in June was probably the nadir of the whole campaign. They were also scoreless and quite literally pointless in losing 28-0 at Hull KR in May.

The Giants’ longest winning streak was just four matches. That win in the south of France was followed by victories over Wakefield, Hull FC and Castleford before a 32-18 loss at Saints while the rest of the league had the weekend off for the Challenge Cup final apart from participants Leigh Leopards and Hull KR. By the same token the Giants never lost more than four in a row. They were consistently inconsistent and ultimately mediocre. Going into his fourth season in charge at The John Smith’s Stadium Watson appears to be sitting on one of the hottest seats in Super League. It’s a potentially crucial year for him.

The Challenge Cup brought no joy for the West Yorkshire side. They had made it all the way to…er…Tottenham for the 2022 final where they lost to a late Liam Marshall try for Wigan. Yet they couldn’t repeat that run in 2023, falling at the first hurdle to Watson’s old club Salford in a wild one which finished 42-40 to the Red Devils.

The 2024 Recruits…

The headline act among the newbies is halfback Adam Clune. The 28 year-old has amassed almost 50 NRL appearances in spells with St George-Illawarra Dragons and Newcastle Knights but could not force his way into the first team of the latter in 2023 until Watson’s old Salford mucker Jackson Hastings went down injured towards the end of the season. With Theo Fages now in his native France with Catalans Dragons Clune will hope to hold off Olly Russell for the starting halfback role. Will Pryce has made the opposite journey to Clune - joining the Knights from the Giants - so we may see Huddersfield’s new man form a midfield pairing with the talented but unpredictable Jake Connor. Whatever else it is, that probably won’t be dull.

In the pack Watson has placed his faith in another man who struggled to play first grade in the NRL. Second rower Jack Murchie managed only five appearances for Parramatta Eels in 2023 having joined from New Zealand Warriors. Despite that, expect the 26 year-old to challenge the likes of Harry Rushton, Leroy Cudjoe, Harvey Livett, Andre Savelio and Sam Hewitt for a starting berth in the back row. 

Hooker Thomas Deakin is an Oldham lad who has spent 16 of his 21 years on this Earth in Australia. Latterly he has been on the books at Sydney Roosters but arrives in West Yorkshire to compete with Adam Milner for a spot at dummy half. French prop Hugo Salabio is another front rower who represents potential for now having gained some Super League experience with Catalans Dragons and Wakefield Trinity. 

No Super League squad seems complete without an ex-Saints man forced to explore first team opportunities elsewhere, and the Giants have acquired two new ones in Adam Swift and Savelio. Both arrive from Hull FC where Swift was one of the better performers in another season of underachievement despite the guidance of Head Coach Tony Smith. Swift scored 86 tries in 130 appearances for Saints between 2012-19 and has added another 36 in 55 matches for FC. The lad knows where the try line is and now, aged 30, also brings great experience. 

Savelio is an undoubtedly talented back rower who has never quite blossomed into the star that he could be. That’s down to a combination of injuries and his uncanny knack of getting in his own way. That he lasted five seasons on Humberside seems to say more about the black and whites’ willingness to accept the sheer humdrum nature of their performances during that time rather than any suggestion that Savelio had become a key figure. Huddersfield represents another new start for the ex-Warrington and Castleford man who is still somehow only 28. It’s an opportunity he surely cannot afford to waste.

Completing the recruitment at the time of writing are 23 year-old winger Elliott Wallis who was one of the bright spots in Castleford’s otherwise dismal 2023 campaign and 20 year-old centre Connor Carr who has now signed professional terms with the Giants.

So Who's Out?

After 15 years and over 300 appearances Jermaine McGillvary is no longer a Huddersfield Giant.  It was a sadly acrimonious end as the former England and Great Britain winger was informed of his release by the Giants only hours before it became public knowledge.  It is alleged that the 35 year-old was first alerted to the fact that his future may lie elsewhere when he was asked by the club's welfare officer whether he would be retiring from the game.  He's not, but he won't be operating in Super League in 2024 having agreed to join the rebuild at relegated Wakefield Trinity under Daryl Powell.  

Pryce has been a star at Huddersfield for a rather shorter period than McGillvary, but he also heads for the exit having been snapped up by the Knights.  Pryce - son of Saints legend Leon - has only made 44 appearances for the Huddersfield side in three seasons since breaking through from the academy.  Yet that is enough to convince the Knights' scouts that he has what it takes to make it in the strongest competition the game has to offer.  His pace and skill are going to be hard to replace for Watson - under whom a nagging sense remains that the Giants never saw the best of the 21 year-old.  

Not that there is a comparison to be made in terms of talent level but the same could perhaps be said of Fages.  The Frenchman won back to back Super League Grand Finals with Saints in 2019 and 2020 and was a Challenge Cup winner at Wembley the following year.  Yet he only managed to turn out 17 times in two seasons in West Yorkshire.  He will spend 2024 back in his homeland with the Dragons.  

Two other ex-Saints are also departing with Jack Ashworth linking up with Tony Smith's Hull FC and Josh Jones calling time on his playing career due to concussion issues.  Jones made 105 appearances for Saints between 2012-15 and was part of one of the more unlikely Super League Grand Final winning sides in 2014.  Ashworth was also a Grand Final winner in the red vee, appearing from the interchange bench in Saints' victory over the Red Devils in 2019.

Jones isn't the only key retirement among the Giants ranks.  Much travelled hooker Nathan Peats calls it quits at 33 years of age and after representing seven clubs on both sides of the globe.  That is a blow, but perhaps the loss of back rower Chris McQueen - Try Machine - will be even more keenly felt.  A former winger and centre and 2014 NRL Grand Final winner with South Sydney Rabbitohs, McQueen bagged 33 tries in 75 Giants appearances which were predominantly in the second row.  He made one appearance for England against Samoa in 2017 having qualified through his father.  He also won the 2022 Lance Todd Trophy as Man Of The Match while on the losing side in the Challenge Cup final against Wigan at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.  He has been arguably the Giants' best player throughout the so far underwhelming Watson era and will be a difficult man to replace.  

Utility forward Owen Trout is heading to 2023's surprise package, playoff participants and Challenge Cup winners Leigh, while hooker Adam O'Brien is dropping down a division to turn out for his hometown Halifax Panthers.  Nathan Mason has made a move down under - but it is the Illawarra Rugby League which will he will grace rather than the NRL after switching to the wonderfully Australian Corrimal Cougars.  

What's The Expectation?

Huddersfield fans will probably still feel, despite everything that they endured in 2023, that they have the squad and the coach to make a push for the playoffs.  After all they are just one of a number of mediocre sides who could emerge from the scrap below the real quality that resides in the top two or three and snag themselves a playoff berth.  There is usually an unexpected contender in any given season of Super League and Giants fans as well as owner Ken Davy will feel that it could be them.  Although they may feel it in the same way that you feel that it could be you who wins the jackpot on Lotto this weekend.  It could, but you are not exactly preparing for it, are you?  

A top six place would represent success.  Even a sustained challenge for a top six place might placate the fans.  Just the opportunity to be in the conversation when those final few games of the regular season zoom into view come late August and September would represent improvement.  

What Will Really Happen?

The pessimistic view is that Watson will do well to still be in his job by the middle of March.  The Giants open up their 2024 campaign with a trip to the Leopards.  Last year's upstart success story may not replicate the heroics of 2023 but they are unlikely to go back to being the easy beats they were after previous promotions to the top flight.  After that Huddersfield face Saints at home and Wigan away in what is a pretty unforgiving start to the season.  Though they pushed both of those two constantly bickering heavyweights close in games last season it is not beyond the realms that the Giants could make an 0-3 start. Such an outcome could place Watson under unbearable pressure.  

Should he survive we know he has previous for guiding unfancied teams into the very biggest games.  This after all is the man who led Salford Red Devils to the Grand Final in 2019 and the Challenge Cup final a year later.  That the Red Devils lost both of those games does not change the fact that these were feats of great overachievement.  Prior to Watson's involvement summer era Salford only ever reached Grand Finals and Challenge Cup finals in the mind of Phil Clarke and his ever more desperate look at me punditry. Yet it is has never quite felt like Watson will bring the same feel good factor to the John Smith's Stadium that he did to Salford.  You may not sense that he can awake another sleeping giant (that’s more nominative determinism than pun) and at least ruffle the feathers of the Usual Suspects who seem to sit effortlessly, untroubled, atop the table year on year.  

If he can't at least instil that belief this time around and give the fans a run for their money it could be the beginning of the end.  It's probably make or break for Watson at Huddersfield in 2024. 

Season Preview 2024 - Catalans Dragons

The Story Of 2023…

It was a case of fermer mais pas de cigare for Steve McNamara’s side as their second Grand Final  appearance in three seasons ended in another defeat. Eighteen years into their Super League journey a title still eludes the Dragons whose only trophy successes have come in the Challenge Cup in 2018 and in winning the League Leaders Shield two years ago. 

The latter eluded them in 2023, though it went down to the last weekend of the regular season with Wigan and Saints also in contention. In the end it was Matty Peet’s side who took the honour, but only on points difference as all of the top three managed 20 wins from their 27 regular season outings. It might have been different for the French side had former Wigan man Oliver Gildart’s try for Leigh Leopards been allowed to stand rather than being nefariously ruled out for an obstruction. 

The campaign started well for Catalans with five wins on the spin including an 18-10 victory over the Warriors at the DW in early March. Defeat was not tasted until the end of the month when Leeds Rhinos enjoyed a rare 2023 high with a 32-22 win at Headingley. After a home win over Castleford three more losses in a row followed as all of Warrington, Huddersfield and Salford got the better of McNamara’s men. A 24-12 home win over Saints on May 5 was arguably a turning point in the Dragons’ season. At the very least it was the moment when they announced themselves as a genuine contender. 

That was one of seven league wins in a row, including an even more comprehensive 46-22 gubbing of Wigan on their own patch. I know…it’s not their own but you know what I mean? Bizarrely, the winning sequence was ended by a second loss to Huddersfield of the season on July 8.  You’d have been forgiven for thinking that Ian Watson had some kind of blackmail-worthy leverage on McNamara based on results between the two coaches’ sides.

Wigan would gain a measure of revenge - the real kicker would come in October - with an unfathomable 34-0 win in Perpignan in August. Yet other than that only Hull KR would get the better of Catalans in Super League in the final nine regular season matches following that second reverse to the Giants. The only other major disappointment to that point had been a 16-14 Challenge Cup exit to Warrington in the last 16. Who wouldn’t be disappointed to lose to Warrington, after all?

Though they couldn’t overhaul Wigan the Dragons’ points difference advantage over Saints would prove crucial in getting them to Old Trafford. It meant that they secured a place in the top two. That achievement came with a week off while Saints had to indulge their habit of beating Warrington at home. It also meant that it would be Saints rather than the Dragons who would have to cross the channel when the pair faced off in the semi-final. 

Most of my readership are of a Saints persuasion so they won’t want me to dwell on the events of that game. Particularly not the dying moments of it when Sam Tomkins eschewed the opportunity for a potential game-winning drop-goal and instead removed all doubt by slicing through an over-committed Saints rearguard. In so doing he ensured that it would be he and not James Roby who would get to extend his glorious career by one more game. 

When it did end a week later it was Tomkins’ old club who ensured that it would be in disappointment. Wigan’s 10-2 win was a dire spectacle - particularly viewed from this side of Billinge Hill - but it also shone a light on the Dragons’ inability to get over the line in the biggest game of all when the level of intensity puts points at a premium. Though they had reached two Grand Finals in three seasons they had posted only 12 points across those two encounters. They had conceded only 22, so it seems clear where they need to improve if and when they get another shot.

The 2024 Recruits

The Dragons have recruited relatively well from the NRL in recent years and have brought in another trio from the Australasian competition ahead of this campaign. Tariq Sims is 33 now but is a veteran of over 230 NRL appearances across spells with North Queensland Cowboys, Newcastle Knights, St George-Illawarra Dragons and Melbourne Storm. He appeared 15 times for Craig Bellamy’s outfit in 2023 and will look to boost McNamara’s options in all areas of the pack. Brothers Korbin and Ashton have already enjoyed stints in Super League. 

Joining Sims in Perpignan will be another man with a brother currently succeeding in Super League. Bayley Sironen is the younger brother of Saints man Curtis, who has already won a Grand Final and a World Club Challenge in his first two seasons in England. Bayley heads to France from New Zealand Warriors after 57 appearances in three seasons. Prior to that he turned out for Wests Tigers and South Sydney Rabbitohs. Like Curtis he’s a skilful back rower with size who should go well in Super League. The sibling theme continues with Jayden Nikorima - brother of Dolphins’ former Sydney Roosters stand-off Kodi - also brought in. Like Kodi he operates at six. Unlike Kodi he has been somewhat in the wilderness of late, managing just one appearance for the Storm and just two across his two seasons in Victoria.

McNamara has also been shopping in the UK. Chris Satae established himself as one of the best impact front rowers in Super League during a four-season stint at Hull FC. At 31 he has left the black and whites behind to arguably give himself a better shot at the main prizes in the game at the back end of his career. The other two domestic acquisitions are halfbacks. Following Mitchell Pearce’s retirement and Tyrone May’s move to Hull KR there is a need for some midfield creativity. McNamara has put his faith in former Salford, Saints and Huddersfield man Theo Fages to provide it along with Jordan Abdull who is initially on loan from Hull KR. 

So Who’s Out?

Along with the retired pair of Tomkins and Pearce as well as May there are other pillars of the 2023 side who will be plying their trade elsewhere in 2024. Wigan have been on a particularly Madeley-esque trolley dash and have plundered the Dragons for both Adam Keighran and Tiaki Chan. Keighran is an excellent goal-kicking centre - as if you needed telling after his performance against Saints in the semi-final - while Chan will add to the Warriors’ all new front row options which now include former Saints Grand Final winner Luke Thompson, highly rated ex-Leeds Rhino Sam Walters and Tyler Dupree who joins from Salford Reds. Chan is the son of ex-Dragon Alex. Tiaki made only 13 appearances for the Catalans side last year with another four on loan at Toulouse in the Championship. With those present and future internationals ahead of him in the pecking order he may struggle for game time again.

Back rower Mikael Goudemand is another who didn’t always feature for McNamara’s side in 2023. He made 17 appearances but like Chan missed that Grand Final defeat. He is now residing at Leeds after six seasons in Perpignan left him one short of a century of appearances. 

The Grand Final was one of only seven matches in 2023 in which Sio Siua Taukeiaho wore the red, white and yellow. He arrived in the UK with a massive reputation having been one of the premier front rowers in the NRL in 10 seasons with Sydney Roosters. The 32 year-old failed to make the expected impact in Super League and was released at the end of his one and only campaign with the club. 

Which only leaves Matt Whitley. Originally a Sintelliner the former Widnes back rower has had to wait until the age of 27 to get a shot at representing his hometown club. The trouble is he joins Saints at a time when Paul Wellens’ side have more back rowers than seems sensible for any club operating under a salary cap. Can Whitley force his way in ahead of one of Sione Mata’utia, Joe Batchelor or Curtis Sironen? And whither Sam Royle? With Waqa Blake arriving might Konrad Hurrell also be in contention for a move to that area of the pack? Better stop this speculation now in the event that a Dragons fan might actually read this and feel somewhat aggrieved that it is becoming more about Saints.

What’s The Expectation?

Despite a high turnover of players and in some key positions there won’t be anyone at the Perpignan club who doesn’t believe that they can not only get back to Old Trafford for what would be a third time in four seasons but also that they can go one better and win. With Tomkins gone perhaps Arthur Mourgue now has the way clear to become the superstar he has often threatened to be, while in Tom Davies and Tom Johnstone the Dragons have two of the game’s finest wingers. Much will depend on how seamlessly or otherwise Fages, Abdull and Nikorima can fit in as the midfield pairing though I can’t help feeling it would have been wise to add a centre to replace Keighran. Matt Ikuvalu could be a solution but in all likelihood it’s going to be a big year for Matthieu Laguerre.

In the pack Whitley and Goudemand are significant losses so Bayley Sironen and Tariq Sims will be key along with Satae. Questions should also be asked of how much is left in the tank of 36 year-old Micky McIlorum. Not that age will prevent Shaun Wane from picking the ex-Wigan hooker for his England World Cup squad in 2045. 

What Will Really Happen?

Super League hasn’t been given a massive shot of quality overnight so even a Dragons squad which might be a little bit off their 2023 standards should be good enough to make the playoffs. A good start would help create confidence and should be possible given the schedule. In the first six weeks the Dragons twice face a Warrington side still adjusting to the coaching methods of the untried Sam Burgess - or whoever replaces him when he is sacked - before getting to make acquaintances again with underachievers like Hull FC, Castleford and Leeds along with newly promoted and already doomed London Broncos.  

FC, London and Leeds feature in the Dragons’ final six fixtures two, with Wigan the only real worry during the run-in. Like Warrington in 2023, it could be the bit in the middle which causes McNamara the most headaches.