from NZ Warriors has signed to replace outgoing Casey McGuire

Good signing. Not popular in Cas tho!

Waste of F-ing time. We have Bently and Gigot for that role, why p!ss money up a wall on a position we don't need filling? SO and Prop are our current requirements, with a FB if Clint and Walker both leave in the summer.

Argh, we have already two very good hookers : Bentley and J.-P. Baile (and Eloi Pelissier from the academy). We need a prop, a second row and a winger, not a hooker :s

Prop signing to be announced this week

I wouldn't want to go into the season with just Kane as hooker with back-up coming from Baile. For all his qualities, Baile is no dummy half (see also Mounis, G).

I'd rather have Gigot at hooker than Baile.
Second row? What's wrong with Elima/Fakir? Who could we sign that would be better? Are we lacking cover for the back row?
Wing? Vaccari/Walker, with academy cover. We only need cover if Clint and/or Walker go and we need a FB if they both go. If we are down only one we have Duport who can play on the wing (though ideally he'd be in the centres with JPB and Raguin would go to the back row).
We need a prop and a SO.
If we sign Henderson and lose Elima I will be so mad!

we don't just need 'cover', we need QUALTY 'cover' - it's been proven this season;you take out the first-choicers and we are stumped. Gigot (from what i've seen of him this season) isn't up to it,along with a few other fringe players - let's keep the quality like CG,OL,CW etc etc and add to it ! that's the only way we can be a convincing top 8 outfit in order to compete.

Your modicum of common sense does not belong here, the correct reaction to any Australian player who might come along and take a French player who is clearly not yet upto first team standard is to wail from the rooftops that he is a waste of money.

Clearly Tony "Turnstyle" Gigot is more than capable of becoming the next Cameron Smith.

Gigot will get better. Henderson won't.

Given the finite cash we have it makes sense to keep our best French players and sign a coach who will get the best out of our current squad. But no, let's spend money on etrangers as opposed to bringing through the vast talent from the LER - it's not like anyone has ever managed that in the past, or that that's the future of the game in France. Let's stick with short term because that's worked well for us so far - the past two years for example.

'common sense' & Catalan Dragons don't always go together my friends as we have seen over the past season or two but what I do believe is that we some decent 'etrangers' to boost the level a bit - it would be brilliant to see a Dragons team full of french players nurtured thro' the LER system but that's not going to happen overnight is it ? I am french,and proud of it but hey,we need to get real here ! that's like asking Brian Noble to produce a top eight side from only welsh players - that ain't going to happen for a while is it ?
I would love to see LF giiven the head coaching job but we can all see the direction the Catalan heirachy is continuing to pursue - that's not going to change until the french system (LER etc) catches up to the english general level - improving the coaching standards at places like TOXIII would help greatly but dear old Carlos seems intent on sticking with a coach who is living in the 80s' - that type of rugby is finished with - let's move on please...

I'm sure he will get better given time. He and Barthau have recently got some game time at Toulouse since the link up, they should be better for it overall.

Also, a player with the experience of Henderson isn't there to "get better" he should be able to keep the heat off Kane who has played probably less than 25 games in the last two seasons hopefully allowing him to improve too.



Well we have a new man coming in who has previously coached in France and to my knowledge, at current are only losing one French player in Pelo.




Absolutely, I forgot about the rich seam of Super League ready players playing in the LER.

We sign a player from the LER and you gripe about weather he is upto the job.

yeh,maybe i'm being harsh on TG - hopefully TR will give him more of a chance to prove himself and develop him as a player - that's the job of a coach who is worth his salt

I'm not talking about SL players in the LER - the LER will always have the french hopefuls some of which will make it to SL level ie Elima & Ferriol etc - what I want to see change is the coaching methods in france - as I have said on previous forum subjects,we need to get into the modern era - improve our coaching methods,just
ask the TO players - the coaching & match preparation methods are a joke - players like William B will not improve at TO if the present regime is allowed to carry on - good rugby is being stifled

1. What a thing to forget, silly you.
2. No, I asked whether he was the guy to replace Ryles or whether we still needed a top prop.

Well said mon ami, totally agree with you 100%

There is only one person who's posts could be described as "silly" on this board.



If you knew half as much as you reckon you do about the players in France, you wouldnt have had to ask that question.

I'd know very little.
This does not change the fact that Bosc, Raguin and JPB took two years to become key players in the side. There is no reason why we could not do the same again, or do you really reckon that the LER only contained two SL quality players and has been tapped out?
Silly boy.

I have it on good authority that a 24 year old aussie half-back is signed and sealed for next season, due to be announced in 2-3 weeks!

Hello Cala!

This half-back...his name? Scott Dureau
He played at Newcastle Knights, when Trent Robinson was the headcoach.

He can play hooker, and I hope he had been signed to play hooker. Because it is very sad to let Brent Sherwin go out. B.S. is a monster

Edited for accuracy.

If were going to go about things, as you seem to do, childishly.



I know the LER has players who could improve vastly if they were at the Dragons. This is obviously because of the higher level of competition in Super League and also because of the better quality imports that can be recruited in Super League.

It does not mean they are ready to go and sitting on the LER shelf though.

Oooooh, handbags. Can we both stop being childish now?

I'm sure Henderson will be a great player, one that would be a great addition to any club, but my concerns are:
1. It's a continuation of our club policy of signing the best players available, not the best players available to fill the gaps we have.
2. He's replacing McGuire, when Bently should be replacing McGuire and we should be looking for a replacement for Bently. If we can afford to lavish that much cash on Henderson, then great, however ...
3. We can't afford him. We know this because Elima is rumoured to be leaving because of his contract renewal and we can't afford our first choice of replacement for Walters.
4. Elima/Bently again. If we want to compete with the big teams (Leeds/Saints) we need to develop like them. Sign big players when needed, but sign the coach to take the team we have through, promote academy players and select the nucleus of a squad that we can build around for years to come. I would suggest that the spine of our club that we need to build around are Bosc, Mounis, Elima, Bently (with Raguin and JPB vital but not as essential). This means that
a. our first recruitment/retention policy has to be to retain these players, not sign big name replacements.
b. we must ensure that our academy players see a chance to make it to the top, not a dead end occupied by an etranger.

Saints replaced long with Eastmond, they have an academy player shining on the wing. That's what makes them a great club. If we rely on etrangers to stay at the top we are doomed to fail. That's the policy that we have followed from the last two years and that has yielded us nada, despite having a theoretically better squad. In that time we have also successfully brought through zero players (one if you count JPB, though he was started before then),

So, by all means, let's sign Henderson to replace McGuire but only after we have successfully replaced Mogg and Ryles/Chan, after we have retained our key players, after we have retained/replaced Greenshields and after we have obtained the best possible coach who might be able to do something with the squad.

wise words belgianxiii and good to see the childish bickering has stopped

a couple of days ago I had a call from a Championship forward,an etranger (can't give his name at the moment,you'll just have to trust me) who says he's been approached by the Dragons - he's a young lad with some potential who would probably be seen as a replacement rather than a first-choice player
it would be great if he had been a french lad tho' or is this just another 'dead end' ?

(coming from a naive standpoint) Surely the best Etrangers are those who come in to improve the club and not just the team?

Looking at what a shambles we have been at times this season I am making the leap (and someone with inside knowledge of the corridors of Dragons power might be able to pick me up) that Greg Bird was good at organising on and off the pitch.

What we need are Aussies or Brits who can make the academy players better, bring the UTC players into the first team squad and make Barteau, Gigot et al superleague players.

Its about that mix... too many French untried players will be a disaster, too few and we have an identity crisis.

It's a good point, though has any player developed us as a team like Jones did?

of course we need the mix with the idea being that the french lads learn from the 'etrangers' and consequently improve the general level of professionalism & performance in all the french leagues
as a fan,I love seeing great players performing and i'm willing to pay at the gate for the privelege - what I don't want to see is negativity such as at TO13 due to outdated coaching techniques whether it be by a french or foreign coaching set-up