Following their squad announcement yesterday Toulouse Olympique have announced their leadership group for 2023 and they’re relying on a former Wigan Warriors’ veteran to lead their promotion charge.
Naming just 19 players when assigning squad numbers the Olympians seem to have quite a short stacked squad for their Championship season however they openly admitted at a desire to recruit a forward, as reported here.
One man who is in that 19-man squad is former Cherry and White star Harrison Hansen and the 37-year-old will captain the French side for 2023.
Having played almost 250 games for Wigan and won two Grand Finals and two Challenge Cups, the former Kiwi and Samoan international will offer plenty of experience.
That experience will prove handy given the likelihood that Toulouse will rely on plenty of youngsters from Catalans Dragons, whom Toulouse have formed a dual registration deal with ahead of 2023.
With Catalans having suffered an injury crisis during pre-season including stars Sam Tomkins, Fouad Yaha and Mike McMeeken all requiring surgery, they’ve had to promote five reserve team players to their firsts.
The reliance on youth will also mean that those players will need to gain experience and quick, hence Toulouse will offer proving ground for plenty of the Perpignan youngsters.
Tasked with deputising for Hansen and forming a three-headed leadership group are Dominique Peyroux and Mathieu Jussaume.
Peyroux brings plenty of experience as well having secured the Grand Final wi9th St Helens in 2019 and 2020 whilst Jussaume offers a blend of youth as well with the 23-year-old being 10 and 14 years younger than Peyroux and Hansen.
The club had announced their leadership group via Twitter, with the announcement following their kit reveal with the French side resorting to French sports manufacturers Le Coq Sportif and donning a traditional blue number.
𝑳’𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆́𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒖 𝒄œ𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒖 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑
Le TO est très heureux d'annoncer son trio de leaders pour la saison à venir : Harrison HANSEN sera Capitaine, Dominique PEYROUX et Mathieu JUSSAUME Vice-Capitaines 👊 pic.twitter.com/1T8uUf1b1Q
— Toulouse Olympique XIII (@TOXIII) January 24, 2023
On their club site their head coach, Sylvain Houles, offered reasoning behind the trio of leaders.
“I really like this trio of leaders, it is complementary, balanced, exemplary, demanding and unifying.”
