Huddersfield Giants will be the first side to travel to Perpignan in 2026 as they take on Catalans Dragons in round one of Super League.
The Giants will be hoping to have a much better start than the one they had 12 months ago, after their 2025 season saw them go winless for the first nine rounds of the competition.
With signings such as Asher O’Donnell, Niall Evalds and Oliver Russell, and a squad that is seemingly fit and healthy, Luke Robinson will be hoping that he can get his side off to a good start, and begin to build some momentum as the season progresses.
In their way this week though, are Joel Tomkins’ Catalans Dragons, who also underperformed in 2025. However, with a new-look squad that features a number of former NRL players, there is plenty of hope that 2026 can be the season that Les Dracs return to the play-off picture.
Continuing with our series of articles going through how each round one team sheet could look, here is how we think both the Giants and Dragons will look at the Stade Gilbert Brutus on Friday evening.
How Catalans Dragons and Huddersfield Giants could line-up in round one
Catalans Dragons:
Starting with the home side, their 17 will look very different to the one that opened last season’s competition, as the French side fell to a 24-4 home defeat to Hull FC.
Only six of the 17 that featured that day are expected to play again on Friday, with two of those being Tommy Makinson and Nick Cotric.
The pair will form a very strong back line, as Charlie Staines and Solomona Faataape make their Super League debuts, whilst Josh Simm makes his first Super League appearance in Dragons colours.
The halves are pretty straight-forward, as Lewis Dodd partners Toby Sexton.
The pack will see new recruits Iszac Fa’asuamaleaui, Zac Lipowicz and Ben Condon make their first league starts, whilst Kruise Leeming is expected to begin at hooker following his move from Wigan Warriors.
Catalans Dragons predicted XVII:Â 1. Charlie Staines, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Nick Cotric, 4. Solomona Faataape, 22. Josh Simm, 6. Toby Sexton, 7. Lewis Dodd, 15. Iszac Fa’asuamaleaui, 19. Kruise Leeming, 10. Julian Bousquet, 20. Zac Lipowicz, 12. Ben Condon, 13. Benjamin Garcia (c)
Bench: 14. Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e, 8. Chris Satae, 16. Josh Allen, 17. Romain Navarette
Huddersfield Giants:
With almost a full squad to choose from, Robinson finds himself in an unusual position, given last year’s injury nightmare.
The club do have two concerns on the back of the Cup win over Hunslet. George Flanagan Jr picked up cramp at the bac-end of the contest, whilst Sam Halsall suffered a groin issue.
With it being round one, there is no reason for the Giants to risk either of those two players, and they have sufficient cover to replace them.
Evalds will come in at full-back, you’d expect, whilst Jacob Gagai could move to the wing, meaning that Liam Sutcliffe gets a chance in the centres.
Lolohea and Clune will look to begin a partnership that lasts the season, whilst Tristan Powell will be back in his natural position of prop rather than loose forward.
New signings O’Donnell, Mathieu Cozza and Chris Patolo are all expected to make their league debuts for Huddersfield.
Huddersfield Giants predicted XVII:Â 1. Niall Evalds, 2. Adam Swift, 19. Liam Sutcliffe, 4. Taane Milne, 3. Jacob Gagai, 6. Tui Lolohea, 7. Adam Clune (c), 8. Tristan Powell, 9. Zac Woolford, 10. Thomas Burgess, 11. Asher O’Donnell, 12. Sam Hewitt, 13. Harry Rushton
Bench: 15. Matty English, 16. George King, 20. Mathieu Cozza, 23. Chris Patolo
