Catalans Dragons boss drops hint about Sam Tomkins’ playing future

Catalans Dragons boss Steve McNamara has dropped a hint about Sam Tomkins’ playing future and pledged his side will bounce back from this year’s play-off disappointment.

Sam Tomkins hung up his boots 11 months ago, after Catalans’ Grand Final loss to his former club Wigan Warriors, but came out of retirement midway through this year in a bid to revive the French outfit’s play-off hopes.

Though Catalans missed out on points difference to St Helens, finishing seventh in the final Super League table, McNamara reckons Tomkins’ presence on the field “made a difference”.

And he even revealed it’s not a foregone conclusion the 35-year-old ex-England full-back or stand-off will be heading back into retirement.

“Not for definite, we’ve not had that conversation yet,” McNamara said of Sam Tomkins after his side’s campaign ended with a 24-4 win at Hull FC.

“He has certainly made a difference to us in terms of his experience when he has been on the field.

“He has done some of those performances without even training, without a pre-season. We will see with Sam.”

Sam Tomkins’ future least of Catalans’ concerns after missing top six

Catalans’ fate was sealed last Friday when Leigh Leopards secured the sixth and final play-off place with a home win over St Helens.

McNamara’s men went into the campaign hoping for another Old Trafford appearance after last year’s second place on the table, but the coach admitted: “We had fingers and toes crossed and we were hoping for a couple of results to go our way.

“But as a club, we shouldn’t be relying on that to get our job done. I think in this sport you get what you deserve and this year we’ve got what we deserve.

“We don’t deserve to be in the six, as simple as that. It would have been great to sneak in, but maybe this is the full reality check we need as a team and a club to get ourselves moving again.”

Those sentiments echoed Sam Tomkins’ who had made his point brutally clear when working as a pundit for Sky Sports on Friday night.

Asked to give his feelings in the aftermath of their play-off hopes being ended, Sam Tomkins said: “We’ve simply not been good enough. There’s no illusion, we know that as players. It’s a player issue at the moment. We’ve not played well enough week in, week out and we don’t deserve to go to a Grand Final.”

What next for Catalans Dragons

McNamara revealed plans for next year are already well in hand. “There’ll be lots of change and we really need to be prepared and ready for next season,” he insisted.

“Last season we, myself included, were really blinkered in terms of going for a Grand Final win.

“We went all out for that, there were lots of players leaving or returning and staff leaving and we probably never prepared early enough last season for this season.

“I take responsibility for some of that and it showed this year. We aren’t going to make the same mistake again.

“The process has been happening for a long time now, behind the scenes, in terms of getting ready for 2025.”

He stressed: “That’s not a deflection from 2024, we could and should have done better.

“We’ve had a lot of adversity, as other teams have, but we haven’t dealt with it as well as others.

“We got 30 points on the table, which is usually enough, but not this year because the standard has gone up a bit.

“We are licking our wounds and we’re hurt and disappointed we’re not in the play-offs, but we don’t deserve to be.”