Catalan Dragons - 6 French players out of a squad of 21

[The Daddy]

6 players in the 21 man squad for Catalan Dragons 1st SL game this season are French. 

This doesn't bode well for the current state of French RL. 

Where is the next generation of French RL players? And if they do exist why aren't Catalan playing more of them?

Edited February 13 by The Daddy

[Flat Rock Kid]

Agree very poor probably have more French players playing this weekend for other SL clubs than French players that make the Gameday 17 for Catalans

[Copa]

2 hours ago, Flat Rock Kid said:

Agree very poor probably have more French players playing this weekend for other SL clubs than French players that make the Gameday 17 for Catalans

Doesn’t that show the system is working?

[Click]

10 hours ago, The Daddy said:

6 players in the 21 man squad for Catalan Dragons 1st SL game this season are French. 

This doesn't bode well for the current state of French RL. 

Where is the next generation of French RL players? And if they do exist why aren't Catalan playing more of them?

6 in 21 is pretty decent, not all clubs will have 6 of their products in their 21 man squads.

[Click]

7 hours ago, Copa said:

Doesn’t that show the system is working?

Indeed it does 

[Bull Mania]

I think this why Catalans could struggle this season (famous last words) 

Historically when Catalans have had success they went big on French culture & players under Mcnamara & Robinson. When they've been less successful it's been big money overseas players. Throw in a few who are already going elsewhere in 2027, and the huge lack of experience in the whole coaching setup, if Catalans begin to struggle, the wheels really could come off. 

[PECETTO]

8 minutes ago, Bull Mania said:

I think this why Catalans could struggle this season (famous last words) 

Historically when Catalans have had success they went big on French culture & players under Mcnamara & Robinson. When they've been less successful it's been big money overseas players. Throw in a few who are already going elsewhere in 2027, and the huge lack of experience in the whole coaching setup, if Catalans begin to struggle, the wheels really could come off. 

Toulouse have 12 on the 21

[gingerjon]

7 hours ago, Copa said:

Doesn’t that show the system is working?

Take the point but not really.

There just isn't a particularly high number of SL quality French players.

However they are distributed, it's not a lot of people.

[barnyia]

4 in the 17 garcia, navarette, da costa, bouquet. 

 

[whatmichaelsays]

11 hours ago, The Daddy said:

And if they do exist why aren't Catalan playing more of them?

Because they don't have a duty to improve the French national side, in the same way that Castleford don't have a duty to produce an Ashes-winning English half back. 

Catalans are putting a team out to be a successful club side. If the best players available to them are French, they'll play them. If they aren't, they'll recruit from elsewhere. 

[Charlie]

Some on Tomkins signings are in my opinion silly like simm and Wilson whom I rate but not really better then the young lads they have. But there also a few french in other sl clubs which is what’s needed. 2 played last night 

[JohnM]

12 hours ago, The Daddy said:

6 players in the 21 man squad for Catalan Dragons 1st SL game this season are French. 

This doesn't bode well for the current state of French RL. 

Where is the next generation of French RL players? And if they do exist why aren't Catalan playing more of them?

The next generation is playing for French clubs. The stronger those clubs, the bigger the pool of potential Dragons players.

[Dave T]

1 hour ago, whatmichaelsays said:

Because they don't have a duty to improve the French national side, in the same way that Castleford don't have a duty to produce an Ashes-winning English half back. 

Catalans are putting a team out to be a successful club side. If the best players available to them are French, they'll play them. If they aren't, they'll recruit from elsewhere. 

I broadly agree with this - but we do have to be careful with this attitude. And it is one that I endorse - I often use football as the example, many clubs have players from all over the world, not their city and the fans love it - but at some stage these strategies do need to align.

I think if part of the reason for having French teams in SL is to strengthen the player base and therefore the national team, there does need to be an approach that is working towards that. It's why I think the French Fed should have been a partner with the RFL in the comp to try and steer what the French clubs do in it. 

Before we knee-jerk on anything here though, as has been pointed out, the talent pool is very small, so we need to be careful about putting unreasonable blockers on them. I note that they have 13 French players in their overall squad, and Toulouse have 14. I assume there are a few knocking round other teams too. So if we get around 30 French players playing in SL this year, maybe that is progress. I don't follow it closely enough to know the trends. 

[Click]

2 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I broadly agree with this - but we do have to be careful with this attitude. And it is one that I endorse - I often use football as the example, many clubs have players from all over the world, not their city and the fans love it - but at some stage these strategies do need to align.

I think if part of the reason for having French teams in SL is to strengthen the player base and therefore the national team, there does need to be an approach that is working towards that. It's why I think the French Fed should have been a partner with the RFL in the comp to try and steer what the French clubs do in it. 

Before we knee-jerk on anything here though, as has been pointed out, the talent pool is very small, so we need to be careful about putting unreasonable blockers on them. I note that they have 13 French players in their overall squad, and Toulouse have 14. I assume there are a few knocking round other teams too. So if we get around 30 French players playing in SL this year, maybe that is progress. I don't follow it closely enough to know the trends. 

I feel like in an ideal world then Catalans would have more French players in their 17 that they've developed, but that would also go for every club developing and holding onto their youngsters.

The standard of the average french jr coming through seems to be higher than it was in the past with only really established french players making the impact. 

With the inclusion of Toulouse that is a lot of French players in SL this year.

[Dave T]

Just now, Click said:

I feel like in an ideal world then Catalans would have more French players in their 17 that they've developed, but that would also go for every club developing and holding onto their youngsters.

The standard of the average french jr coming through seems to be higher than it was in the past with only really established french players making the impact. 

With the inclusion of Toulouse that is a lot of French players in SL this year.

I think this is where my head is. Of course we'd love a team packed with French talent, but I do think as a sport we are a little too demanding of this, probably due to our small nature of the sport. As a Wire fan, I'll be honest, it's all well and good celebrating having lads play for us who were born within 30 mins of the stadium, but, well, honestly, I don't really care where they are from. Local boy done good is always a nice story, and I do truly understand all the benefits - but most of my favourite players for my club were not from Warrington, or anywhere near.

[Click]

3 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I think this is where my head is. Of course we'd love a team packed with French talent, but I do think as a sport we are a little too demanding of this, probably due to our small nature of the sport. As a Wire fan, I'll be honest, it's all well and good celebrating having lads play for us who were born within 30 mins of the stadium, but, well, honestly, I don't really care where they are from. Local boy done good is always a nice story, and I do truly understand all the benefits - but most of my favourite players for my club were not from Warrington, or anywhere near.

Yeah I understand that, I guess my favourite players over the years for London have varied, lots have been Australians naturally but it was always a different feeling seeing the LMS's, Clubbs, Sarginsons etc come through, establish themselves with us or elsewhere.

[Archie Gordon]

3 hours ago, Bull Mania said:

I think this why Catalans could struggle this season (famous last words) 

Historically when Catalans have had success they went big on French culture & players under Mcnamara & Robinson. When they've been less successful it's been big money overseas players. Throw in a few who are already going elsewhere in 2027, and the huge lack of experience in the whole coaching setup, if Catalans begin to struggle, the wheels really could come off. 

I agree with this. Whether or not there should 6 or 16 French players in the 2026 matchday squad is secondary to whether one believes that Catalans should have a French (or at least regional) culture in terms of off-field staff. Like the poster above, I do think they go better (and France goes better) when the club leans into a homegrown culture.

[JM2010]

Does anyone know how many French players are in SL this year across all teams?

[Eddie]

3 hours ago, gingerjon said:

Take the point but not really.

There just isn't a particularly high number of SL quality French players.

However they are distributed, it's not a lot of people.

With one SL Club (up to this year) you’d expect far few players than England produces. 

[Just Browny]

6 out of 21 is really poor and Catalans don't help themselves one iota with this. It should be a point of principle for them that decent French players from departements 66 and 11 are theirs and theirs alone. 

Edited February 13 by Just Browny

[Eddie]

15 minutes ago, Just Browny said:

6 out of 21 is really poor and Catalans don't help themselves one iota with this. It should be a point of principle for them that decent French players from departements 66 and 11 are theirs and theirs alone. 

Why though, no English club does that that I’m aware of. 

[Just Browny]

10 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Why though, no English club does that that I’m aware of. 

I dunno, I'm pretty annoyed if I hear of a young lad from Warrington turning up as a starlet in Wigan or Saints' academy. 

[whatmichaelsays]

3 hours ago, Dave T said:

I broadly agree with this - but we do have to be careful with this attitude. And it is one that I endorse - I often use football as the example, many clubs have players from all over the world, not their city and the fans love it - but at some stage these strategies do need to align.

I think if part of the reason for having French teams in SL is to strengthen the player base and therefore the national team, there does need to be an approach that is working towards that. It's why I think the French Fed should have been a partner with the RFL in the comp to try and steer what the French clubs do in it. 

Before we knee-jerk on anything here though, as has been pointed out, the talent pool is very small, so we need to be careful about putting unreasonable blockers on them. I note that they have 13 French players in their overall squad, and Toulouse have 14. I assume there are a few knocking round other teams too. So if we get around 30 French players playing in SL this year, maybe that is progress. I don't follow it closely enough to know the trends. 

I don't disagree, and admittedly my point may have been a bit simplistic, but I do take issue with the performance of the French national team being used as a stick to beat Catalans with. 

The Dragons are not the FFRXIII and they aren't responsible for how they are run - their priority is themselves and their own success and if we're going to use the French national performance as an excuse to dismiss Catalan and their achievement, then by the same line of thinking, there's no point having any English club you care to mention in SL either because our international growth has been no better. 

I think Catalans has actually done a remarkable job at introducing as many French players to SL as they have over the years - it was always going to take a generation at least to get to a point where we had French players regularly staring in the Catalans team, and they've produced (or introduced) a number of players that would embarrass many other SL clubs. 

[sam4731]

13 hours ago, Copa said:

Doesn’t that show the system is working?

Correct. NZ are successful not because the Warriors are stacked with Kiwis but because there are so many spread around the NRL.

[ClarenceRL]

The disappointment for me is letting solid Super League players like Dezaria, Romano, Seguier, Fages and Yaha go only to replace them with foreign players from the Championship and Queensland Cup. It’s hard to be particularly excited by the squad they have put together.