Former England international, Elliott Whitehead, thought he was returning to Super League a final swansong, after returning to Catalans Dragons. However, it turned out to be quite the opposite.
Following a stellar career in the NRL with Canberra Raiders, the 36-year-old back rower re-joined the Perpignan outfit to see out his career, after a three-year spell there between 2013 and 2015.
But, his final year with the boots on turned out to be more of a nightmare than a fairytale ending, both on and off the field.
The Dragons endured their worst season since 2017, and finished 9th in the Super League table with just 10 wins from 27 matches.
For Whitehead, he was limited to just thirteen matches, with a back injury playing a big part in his season.
His final appearance came in May, as he formed part of a Catalans side that were thumped 48-0 by Wigan Warriors.
Off the field, his situation wasn’t much better, and has now stated that he believes the Dragons medical staff failed to have the correct duty of care when he was injured.
In an interview with ‘Sydney Milk Syndicate‘, a Canberra fan group, he has revealed how he had to go through the French government to get treated, rather than being helped by the club.
On his second spell in the south of France, he said: “I was pretty disappointed with the medical staff over there at Catalans.
“I felt like there were times when they weren’t really bothered about me. I asked them for scans and they kept saying ‘oh, we can’t get you in, there’s too many tourists’. And I’m like, ‘you’re a professional club, what do you mean there’s too many tourists for a scan’?”
“[I was] a bit disappointed because I really enjoyed my time at Catalans the time before, but just didn’t enjoy it one bit this time.”
“I’d have packed up and left” – Former Catalans Dragons man talks injury horrorÂ
Whitehead is the second player of late to come out and publicly criticise the Dragons medical staff, with Tongan international Sio Siua Taukeiaho commenting on what he thought was medical negligence towards him, too. He said that the club denied him surgery for a foot injury, that ended up meaning that he failed a medical at NRL club Canterbury Bulldogs.
The back-rower, who played 31 times for his country in his career, commented on life in Perpignan on his own, and how he wanted to move back to Canberra earlier in the season.
He said: “The language barrier, not knowing many people around the area, it took a big hit on me, I won’t lie.
“It made it worse, because if I could, I’d have packed up and left and come back here and probably got treatment from the physios here.
“But, because of how it works over there, once you get injured, Catalans put you on a government insurance where you’re not allowed to leave France or you don’t get paid.
“I think it helped me come to the realisation that my time as a player had come to an end, which is probably a positive in that aspect.”
Commenting on his progress now, he said: “I’ve got a little bit more movement in my toes. I can curl them now, I couldn’t use to do that.
“I can lit them up a little bit… but it’s getting better, slowly.”
Dracfly
November 24, 2025 at 5:41 am
A pity that English speaking was banned in that region since his first stint with Catalans.
Fortunately that didn’t affect his heavy drinking habits which probably helped a lot fastening the healing process.