The Catalan Dragons are a club based in the city of Perpignan located in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in the south of France. The club was formed in the year 2000 with a merging of XIII Catalan and AS Saint-Estève (which is just outside Perpignan).
On gaining entry into Super League in 2006 they were given a three-year exemption from relegation. That proved a life-saving and sensible initiative as the club came last in its first year. It picked up after that but was spared relegation again in 2010 when from the year previous there was an increase to fourteen teams, licencing, and a temporary cessation of relegation.
The first coach was Michael Potter who did rather well with the new team. He was named Super League coach of the year in 2008. He moved on and was succeeded by Kevin Walters who despite the team just squeezing into the top eight, got to within one game of the grand final. 2010 wasn't so good and he returned home to Australia.
Another Australian arrived as coach in Trent Robinson. As a fluent French speaker, he worked to create a more local flavour into the club, one with several overseas players. He also had two French assistants in Laurent Frayssinous and Jérôme Guisset which would have helped that process. Robinson was named the Super League coach of the year in 2011 but he then went back to Australia.
Laurent Frayssinous took over as head honcho from 2013, with modest results culminating in a poor season in 2017 costing him his position. In came Yorkshireman Steve McNamara who had spent some time in Australia as an assistant coach. I had misgivings about the appointment but he fashioned a team that steadily improved each season. They won the league in 2021 and nearly replicated that two years later. 2024 was a downer and he needs a better 2025 to restore the fan's faith.
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