Delighted boss Joel Tomkins expects Catalans Dragons to be back among the top teams in Super League next year, once some key changes have been made.
The French outfit have had a miserable year, but gave Tomkins – who took over from Steve McNamara midway through the campaign – and his assistant Ryan Sheridan something to build on with a gutsy performance in a shock 16-8 win at Leeds Rhinos last night (Thursday).
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Tomkins insisted: “Over the last 12 weeks, even games where we’ve lost, myself and Ryan Sheridan have spoken afterwards and it gives us encouragement we are doing the right thing.
“We are confident in our systems and structures. I think some changes in our environment next year and in the way we go about our business week to week will help, but our structure, our game plan, we are pretty confident with the right players in place we will be able to challenge next year.
“Most certainly, there has to be some changes in the way we go about our business week to week on the training field and our environment, but I am confident next year – with that attitude and effort we showed tonight – we can challenge.”
Catalans Dragons boss hails star men
Tomkins reckons skipper Ben Garcia has set an example for the rest of the team to follow. He said: “He played in the middle and played 80 minutes.
“He is a leader on the field; he is not much of a talker, but he leads with his actions. We’ve missed Olly Partington and we needed Benny to step up to the plate and give us what Olly has been giving us all year.
“He really did that tonight. I thought he was outstanding. I thought we needed people like that.
“We had 18 fit players, we lost [Bayley] Sironen after 20 minutes and Tariq Sims played with a torn calf.
“[Paul] Seguier has not trained all week – he has been ill and was throwing up before the game so we had some things to contend with and we needed people like Ben Garcia and [Theo] Fages and [Luke] Keary to really stand up and lead the team and I thought those three in particular did.”
Tomkins also praised rookie full-back Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet, whose four goals from as many attempts were the difference between the sides.
“He is up and down,” the coach said. “He has got some really good things in his game and some things he needs to improve and he knows that, but he is growing as a player.
“Twelve weeks ago he didn’t know how to organise a defensive line, but tonight a lot of our goal line D was down to him and his organisation of the line and his communication.
“He is growing in areas of the game where he needs to grow and what he has got is natural talent and confidence. That’s going to stand him in good stead moving forward.”
