MAY 1 has been and gone and all eyes are now firmly fixed on retention and recruitment for the 12 Super League clubs.
At the heart of a club’s plans moving forward is to tie down those players who will command the most interest from rivals.
Well, one man has repeatedly been in the sights of rival Super League clubs and that is Catalans Dragons hooker Alrix Da Costa.
The 26-year-old has played his entire career with the French club so far, registering almost 100 appearances since debuting for the Dragons back in 2016.
The nine-capped French international has revealed to League Express that he has held talks with rival Super League clubs in the past, but his focus is to ‘see what happens’ at the end of the 2024 season.
“I have had some talks with other clubs about moving in the past,” Da Costa told League Express.
“Though I had talks, there weren’t any real offers but my head has always been at the Dragons so I wanted to stay at the club.
“I know I am out of contract at the end of this year, but I just want to play a lot of games and see what happens before now and the end of the season.”
Da Costa has admitted that the club’s exit out of the Challenge Cup hurt, but he is backing the Dragons to recover as he hails the impact of head coach Steve McNamara and fellow hooker Michael McIlorum.
“The season has been good so far, but the loss in the Challenge Cup (to the Huddersfield Giants) still pains us.
“We have a lot of work still to do to get better but it feels good to be in the top two in Super League as things stand.
“It’s great to be learning under Steve McNamara though. He has brought a great professionalism to the club and has built a DNA of hard work here.
“Micky (McIlorum) has also been great for me and he is still one of the best hookers in the competition.
“It is great to be learning from him, he knows things that I’ve never been shown before.”
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