Catalans Dragons owner issues telling recruitment update as 2025 focus outlined

Bernard Guasch insists Catalans Dragons have no plans to make any further recruits ahead of the new Super League season. The Dragons have been busy in the off-season with four players being drafted in from the NRL to bolster their ranks following the departures of nine men.

Nick Cotric and Elliott Whitehead have both made the switch from Canberra Raiders, with the latter returning to the club after nine seasons Down Under, while Tevita Pangai Jr and Luke Keary join from the Dolphins and Sydney Roosters respectively.

Tommy Makinson has made the move from St Helens and adds genuine star quality on the wing, while Ollie Partington has also been recruited from Salford Red Devils to add to their forward ranks. As such, Catalans are heavily fancied to bounce back after finishing seventh last time around and with Reimis Smith still with the club, despite nothing being announced by the Perpignan outfit, their overseas quota is full.

As such, Guasch insists he would rather put more focus on bringing through young French talent from within than make another signing the club don’t necessarily need heading into the 2025 season.

“The quotas have been reached and we are not going to take just for the sake of taking,” the club president told local newspaper L’Independant. “Every week agents offer us English players, but priority is given to French talents and promising youngsters rather than systematic recruitment abroad.”

He added: “We played with an average of ten French players out of seventeen in 2024, which is important. I hope that 2025 will see the emergence of 4 to 5 young French players on whom we have invested the resources. We must rely on the Catalan Dragons Campus to promote the emergence of young French talents, targeting 4 to 5 players ready to perform from 2025.”

Guasch might not be keen to bring in more recruits but he is pushing hard to build a new stand at the Stade Gilbert Brutus and he fears Catalans Dragons will not be able to grow and develop unless an agreement can be reached in the not too distant future.

“I am determined that this new stand is finally finalized,” he added. “If the agreements between the local authorities, town hall, department and region are not finalized by January, I will get angry because I am at the end of my tether.

“The public has been waiting for 10 years and we have been swallowing lies and “being taken for a ride”, while investments are being made next door. Without this new stand, the club will not be able to grow.”