After St Helens defeated Wigan Warriors to move top of the league, the question on the Saturday was who would join them at the Super League summit as the Warrington Wolves and Catalans Dragons met in the sunshine at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
Warrington lost in Round One to the Catalans Dragons who have also only lost once going into the season suffering defeat to Leeds Rhinos in Round Three.
Beaten finalists in last year’s Super League Grand Final, this was set to be a test of their credentials again in 2024 as well as those of Sam Burgess’ Warrington Wolves.
It was a terrible start though for Sam Burgess’ side who quickly were facing down the prospect of their first home defeat. After an error from Paul Vaughan, the Dragons put on a set pattern play and Tom Davies powered through the tackles to score.
It was his fellow winger, his fellow Tom, who scored next. After confusion at the ruck, Jordan Abdull put the kick in behind and Tom Johnstone beat Matt Dufty to the ball to score.
Then things got worse for the Wolves as Paul Vaughan was sin binned for a tip tackle and in his absence Ben Garcia powered over.
Then the Wolves developed some momentum and came very close to scoring after a George Williams kick was taken by Lachlan Fitzgibbon who was tackled just short.
You felt a try was coming and it came via Zane Musgrove powering over after neat play from Danny Walker.
The Wolves had the momentum and a lovely short side play by George Williams picked out Matty Ashton and he gave the ball inside to Toby King to score and the Wolves were back in it.
But they again started the second half slow. After Adam Holroyd held up Michael McIlorum, a kick out wide was batted back to Cesar Rouge to score and give the Dragons a 24-12 lead. They extended that further after lovely offloads from Abdull and Arthur Romano and the Dragons led 28-12 and the game looked gone. That was until James Harrison spun around and was able to ground the ball. Then a lovely side step gave the Wolves back to back tries. George Williams carved through the defence to score and make it 28-24.
Warrington had some huge chances to snatch the win but some amazing defence denied them. Crucially, Catalans Dragons went up the other end of the field and took the win after an Abdull kick was batted back and scored by the kicker himself to wrap up a 32-24 win and move joint top with St Helens.
Super League club have transfers “lined up”
Despite many people raising questions about the Catalans Dragons and their Super League title credentials this year after the departures of Mitchell Pearce, Sam Tomkins and Tyrone May, the Dragons are still very much in the conversation at the top of the Betfred Super League.
But the rebuild is set to keep on going in 2025 with players such as Mike McMeeken, Tom Johnstone and Tom Davies all reportedly set to leave.
However, according to Sky Sports commentator Stuart Pyke stated that they already have replacements lined up for both.
So, it seems the Dragons are set for two major signings already for next season and one is expected to be Tommy Makinson from St Helens as per reports.