Catalans Dragons crashed out of the Challenge Cup at the hands of St Helens with Ryan Sheridan left ruing the club’s slow start and discipline.
Sheridan was in charge once again, as he has been for the past two Super League games, with reports from Love Rugby League claiming that head coach Joel Tomkins has left the club with immediate effect for personal reasons.
That off-field disruption of a coaching change could go some way to explain Catalans’ 36-4 loss, however, it’s the exact scoreline that they lost to St Helens earlier in the season in Super League, when Joel Tomkins was in charge.
Speaking post-match on Super League+ coverage of the game, Sheridan summed up the performance succinctly when asked for his reaction: “Just disappointed”.
He explained: I thought we set the week up well. There was a good feel amongst the group, a little bit disjointed starting in terms of our preparation, but we felt we were ready to go, and then the first half was a terrible start.
“It was an awful start for us, so that hurt our energy, and Saints were good. They were really good.”
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Catalans Dragons coach calls for more discipline
Sheridan would pay further credit to St Helens, however, he also honed in on Catalans’ lack of discipline in the first half with Toby Sexton pinged at one point for dissent as St Helens found territory so easy to come by.
“You have to (be more disciplined), you can’t afford to do that against any side,” the assistant coach said.
“If you’re going to come up with conceding a couple of early tries, a couple of errors, penalties, that affects your energy. Obviously off the back of that you’re in trouble, so then you’ve got to try and come out of it, you’ve got to manage your energy battle again.
“Saints were good. They put us in corners, defended well, we couldn’t find our way out, and I just thought we struggled for most of that half, and obviously for most of the game, then we start the second half and end up with a sin bin, and then it’s like we’re on the back foot again.”
Having lost long-term coach Steve McNamara last year and with reports suggesting his replacement Joel Tomkins has also left, Catalans find themselves in a difficult position.
Asked about the club’s status, Sheridan pointed to the change from 2025 as well as the club’s new philosophy of targeting younger signings.
He explained: “We’re growing as a team, and like you said, the amount of change that we made from last year, and the change in philosophy from the club really. We’ve got a young group, young players that we need to coach, and they need to know and understand to get to the level they need to do to play in the Super League.
“That’s a challenge in itself and this is going to be a long journey for us, ups and downs and challenges. As long as we come out the other side, we realise where we’re at and where we can get to, and the potential of the team, that’s the main thing. That’s a challenge for us as coaches and moving forward and learning from this.”
