Weekly round up #4 27/07/2020

We have a match this week!!! Yay!

This weeks round up starts with supporters club news...

Sky looking for Dragons fans

Niel Wood the UK Supporters Club supremo writes...

"SKY are keen to have some fan interaction in their coverage so we are looking for a few fans who will be watching the St Helens game on Aug 2nd on TV who would like to feature as Dragons fans for the day. It involves watching the game at home - they will rig up (via your laptop camera I think) so that they can watch you watching the game and get reactions to tries, tackles etc.

We don’t have many places available so I thought that I would offer to this group of loyal fans first 

Let me know if you would like to take part. 

Best wishes

Niel"

If you don't have details for Niel get in touch and we will sort you out. But be quick.

TV deal in place for Dracs

This is one that has run and run with a number of options getting close before the season started and then finished. 

L'Equipe is a name with massive resonance for fans of French sport so to get them in is a brilliant thing. 

I think some of the keenness for us to be able to have fans in was probably linked to this deal in some way and so it only remains for me to say "in your face Leeds"...

Seriously though, this is a positive thing for the club, the league and the game in France. Let's blow their socks off and show them this is a sport you have to watch. 

You can read about it here. 

Tony Gi(goes) to Wakey

After leaving the Dragons this winter having failed to agree terms on a new deal Tony Gigot has popped up in Wakefield of all places. 

He had been linked with Castleford in recent days but he follows Olivier Elima, Antoni Maria and Morgan Escare in turning out for the Wildcats. 

His recent trial with Toronto (remember them?) didn't show him off in his best light I have to say but wouldn't it be brilliant to see him back at his best in Super League?

Read the Dragons legends views on his move here. 

Ex-Coach honoured to be taking over Ottawa

Despite me wanting to write a joke about Ottawa not having much success in the hit parade since "Hands up, baby hands up" apparently we need to be serious and write about former Dracs player and coach Lauren Frayssinous heading up the Ottawa Aces. 

Its well documented his time in the big chair at Stade GB ended badly but we wish him well and have found this interview we wanted to share. 

Until next week where we might start talking about rugby games again, or continue with this weekly newsletter... or neither :) 

2020 season restart fixtures confirmed

The 2020 Superleague season kicks off again on 2nd August with all of our first months matches to be shown on Sky Sports. 

Being a cynic, the good news ends there as we are likely to lose all 5 based on them being away to sides likely to finish above us in the table (maybe with Wakefield as the exception. 

We begin at Champion St Helens before visiting the Mend-a-Hose where in recent years a stuffing is pretty much nailed on. 

Salford will be up next with Morgan Escare looking to put us to the sword before Wakefield and then another likely hammering at Wigan. 

However, should we win a couple of those matches we would be in the hunt with some home matches to come.

It will be interesting to see how changes to some clubs rosters and a long lay off might work in terms of freak results 

Can't wait 

Weekly Round up #3 (15/07/2020)

To be honest with you all, I'd never imagined this feature would get to a second week, let alone a third! So let's press on with the latest news round up of Catalans news from around the World Wide Web.

Tomkins unhappy with lack of discussion on rule changes

Sky Sports News Twitter feed posted asking what people thought of the implementation of 6 again and the removal of scrums for hygiene reasons. 

They struck gold as England International and Catalans star Sam Tomkins was keen to reply and put his point across, possibly without consulting his agent first. 

I don't think this was the post that got the RFL and Superleague complaining about players social media usage but Samkins will have certainly caused some annoyance in the corridors of power. 

Read it on Forty20.news here.

Bernard hits out again 

Club owner Bernard Guasch has hit out at Superleague owners after it was rumoured Leeds would refuse to travel to France (again) citing that the fact you could have 5000 in the ground would give Catalans an unfair advantage. 

The fact we travel to the UK every other week and are two games behind the rest of the competition sees to have escaped the attention of Gary Hetherington and some of the others owners. So I will remind them. We will not win the league as a result of being able to play in front of a crowd. So stop trying to politicise this issue for your own agendas and egos. Thanks.

TotalRL has the story here. 

Dragons back in training

After a scare earlier last week where the club stopped training sessions to get some test results. Thankfully all looks better now and this gallery from the clubs official website shows the players going through their paces. 

More next week !!! 

Monday Round up #2 (on Thursday) 09/07/2020

I know I know... a promise is a promise and I failed :)

Better late than never they say, here is the weekly round up. 

Folau

First up comes the news that controversial Israel Folau has agreed a deal to extend his Perpignan stay to the end of 2012. 

This is a really interesting piece of news of a number of levels. 

1. Do Superleague have to ratify contract extensions, or if its an option taken up by player or club does it not count as a "new deal"?. With all the bluster at the time Folau arrived and a change in rules to prevent controversial players signing contracts in the future, have they been too busy on other things allowing this to get through or have they no justification for a complaint? 
2. Does Folau grudgingly deserve a little credit here? He could have taken a large pay rise and moved back to the NRL or changed sports to join the Top 14, but he wants to give Dragons a full season. I don't know the ins and outs of his contract and whether his money has gone up but this action is certainly interesting and if it was any other player, Superleague would rightly be pushing the news. 
3. Does this mean that Steve McNamara is also close to a new deal? There is a lot of planning going in for 2021 and beyond at the moment and it would seem the coach is part of that process. 

Training

The Dragons returned to training over a week ago ahead of their August 2nd date with St Helens. However after a lot of social media pictures showing the players arriving at the club earlier this week with masks on, training has been suspended pending the outcome of some Covid testing. 

We think that's going to be known tomorrow and hopefully all are clear and we can get back to work on the pitch. 

Simon

Super Mika Simon is hanging up his boots at the end of the season. No that doesn't mean he is joining London :) . 

But I wouldn't rule him out for Palau Broncos. 

Thanks big fella and let's hope we can see you off in style. 

That's all for this week, see you on Monday*

*Maybe

Contract extension for Folau

Israel Folau has today signed a contract extension for the 2021 season with Catalans Dragons. 

The deal that brought him to Superleague was originally only for this year but with the state of the competition and Dragons likely to be adrift of the playoffs being two rounds more behind the rest of the teams the player wants to use 2021 to have a proper go at the league.