Super League club hit with pre-season disruption and forced to take training indoors

One Super League club has been forced to take training indoors as their pre-season suffered major disruptions.

It has been just under a month since the Super League Grand Final back on October 12th but pre-season training is underway for a handful of clubs with Hull FC the earliest to start when they returned last Tuesday.

Incredibly, Wigan Warriors saw some players return last week albeit the internationals and some of those who featured heavily in the play-offs will have a delayed restart.

One of the other clubs who started last week was Catalans Dragons, however, the French side were dealt a major blow with the club being forced to take their training inside when they arrived back last Thursday.

That’s on account of the pitch still being treated after the previous outbreaks of fungus, with those in 2023 leading to the club issuing a statement about the pitch after many fans dubbed it a ‘disgrace’.

Super League side left without pitch to train on as pre-season hits hurdle

Catalans Dragons regularly have issues with their pitch, which they’re forced to paint green in the summer months, and after its end-of-season treatment including sanding and re-sowing, it was not ready for the club’s return on Thursday.

That is per L’Independant who reported that Steve McNamara was forced to take his team indoors to begin their pre-season work with the club hopeful that pitch problems will be resolved this week.

It was also reported that the car park may be the venue for the club’s training last week and that left the club’s Sporting Director Neil McIlory bemoaning the situation.

Per L’Independant, he said: “We are faced with a project of elite sort and improvement of performance, without means of doing it.”

Steve McNamara had outlined what the club’s pre-season training would look like with a number of coaching changes occurring in the off-season.

Assistant Andy Last has left for Hull FC whilst Joel Tomkins, Ryan Whitley and Ryan Sheridan have all joined Catalans with Whitley arriving from Sydney Roosters where he was held in high regard.

McNamara had explained: “We have many new faces, both in the squad and the staff, and it will bring freshness and excitement.

“We’ve been having continuous meetings with the staff since the beginning of the week, and I feel a lot of positivity around us. For the first time in a while, we have a real pre-season.

“The performance staff will put the players in the best possible conditions for the upcoming season. The preparation will be intense and challenging and the players will be pushed to their limits.”