ELLIOTT WHITEHEAD has hit out at the medical treatment given to him – or lack of – by former club Catalans Dragons.

Whitehead’s career was cut short after a season-ending injury in 2025, with the back-rower playing just 13 games on his return to the French club.

That back injury left the 36-year-old without the full movement of his toes. Whitehead received surgery, but then had to remain in France due to regulations that meant if he left to return to Australia early, he wouldn’t get paid.

And, in a candid interview with the Canberra Times, Whitehead has explained how staff at the Dragons – whom he previously played for between 2013 and 2015 before a nine-year spell with Canberra Raiders – told him they could not given him a scan due to the amount of tourists that were in Perpignan.

“I’ve got a little bit more movement in my toes. I can curl them now, I couldn’t use to do that,” he said.

“I can lift them up a little bit… but it’s getting better, slowly.

“I was pretty disappointed with the medical staff over there at Catalans. I felt like there were times when they weren’t really bothered about me.

“I asked them for scans and they kept saying, ‘Oh, we can’t get you in, there’s too many tourists’. And I’m like, ‘You’re a professional club, what do you mean there’s too many tourists for a scan?’

“So (I’m) a bit disappointed because I really enjoyed my time at Catalans the time before, but just didn’t enjoy it one bit this time.”

The former England international did concede that the entire issue convinced him that hanging up his boots was the right decision.

“It was hard. Being over there on my own, the language barrier, not knowing many people around the area, it took a big hit on me,” Whitehead continued.

“I won’t lie. It made it worse, because if I could I’d have packed up and left and come back here and probably got treatment from the physios here.

“But because of how it works over there, once you get injured Catalans put you on a government insurance where you’re not allowed to leave France or you don’t get paid.

“I think it helped me come to the realisation that my time as a player had come to an end, which is probably a positive in that aspect.”