“The game was flat, the atmosphere was flat” – Steve McNamara bemoans quality as he fears for future of club

Steve McNamara and the Catalans Dragons may well be sitting top of Super League, but the head coach was not happy with the performance against Castleford despite the win.

McNamara had to change things around before and during the game due to a lack of personnel.

“We went into the game with Michael McIlorum not there as hooker and Ben Garcia who does fill in there at times, so we knew we were a bit short.

“We were expecting Alrix Da Costa to play the full 80, but he had a hard knock in the first ten minutes so we had to move James Maloney to fullback, Arthur Mourgue into hooker, Samisoni Langi into halfback and Matt Whitley into the centres.

“We certainly didn’t play well tonight but we got the win.”

McNamara was critical of the overall atmosphere at the Jungle.

“It’s 2012 since we won here and I know Castleford had their difficulties before and during the game so it certainly wasn’t two teams at full strength.

“I’m disappointed how we’ve played our last two games, but I’m also pleased we’ve end up on the right side of the results.

“We’ve lost a bit of rhythm, but we’re scratching out the wins.

“We need to improve and get back to playing the way we have, as it was a real low energy game.

“The game was flat, the atmosphere was flat and it was a slow game – we’re sitting in a good position in the league but we know how quickly that can change.”

The Catalans boss also bemoaned the lack of home games the French side have had in 2021 so far.

“We’ve played 12 games this season and nine of them have been in England so we’ve been through a fair bit at this stage.

“We need to find some solutions and answers to it. It would be nice to get some home games, my concern is for ourselves as a club the expense it’s costing us and not being able to recoup that with home gates.”