{"id":76290,"date":"2025-08-18T21:08:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T21:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/76290\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T21:08:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T21:08:09","slug":"catalans-dragons-incredible-2026-xiii-after-five-signings-and-reported-lewis-dodd-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/76290\/","title":{"rendered":"Catalans Dragons’ incredible 2026 XIII after five signings and reported Lewis Dodd interest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Catalans Dragons are in the midst of a squad rebuild and their side could look very different in 2026, particularly with the latest transfer reports.<\/p>\n

Having already signed five players for 2026, four of whom have come from Down Under, they could be set to add another with\u00a0All Out Rugby League <\/a>reporting that Les Dracs are setting their sights on Lewis Dodd.<\/p>\n

The Englishman is contracted for another two years at South Sydney Rabbitohs on big money, reportedly $650,000 per season, but he\u2019s been told that he is free to leave<\/a> and it\u2019s understood that Souths accept they may have to pay some of his wages to get him off their books.<\/p>\n

With Theo Fages set to join Pia Donkeys and Luke Keary reportedly set to leave the club one year into a two-year deal, Dodd could partner new NRL signing Toby Sexton in the halves of a new-look Catalans Dragons\u2019 side.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve looked at the players currently contracted for 2026, including those five new recruits, to see just how strong Catalans Dragons could be next year under Joel Tomkins.<\/p>\n

What Catalans Dragons could look like in 2026<\/p>\n

Full-back: Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet<\/p>\n

Catalans were so confident in Aispuro-Bichet as a prospect that they were willing to let Arthur Mourgue leave to join Hull KR one year early and that confidence looks to be well-placed.<\/p>\n

Whilst he\u2019s certainly capable of an error under the high ball, something that will surely improve with time given his age, Aispuro-Bichet is one of the most exciting players in Super League and the perfect anchor for a rebuild.<\/p>\n

Wingers: Tommy Makinson and Leo Darrelatour<\/p>\n

One of the few older players who will remain and be core to building the culture at Catalans is Tommy Makinson. Signed from St Helens, the winger showed exactly what he can do when scoring a first-half hat-trick against Warrington<\/a> the other night.<\/p>\n

On the opposite wing could be Leo Darrelatour who has taken his chances well and looks to be another exciting French player.<\/p>\n

Centres: Solomona Faataape and Nick Cotric<\/p>\n

If Darrelatour plays on the wing then Nick Cotric could be asked to play centre, something he has done of late, but it\u2019s likely he might have a new partner. Reimis Smith is off-contract but Catalans have signed Wests Tigers\u2019 Solomona Faatape<\/a> to play in the three-quarters.<\/p>\n

Halves: Toby Sexton and Lewis Dodd<\/p>\n

Toby Sexton had led Canterbury Bulldogs to top of the NRL before the club decided to move for Lachie Galvin and that saw the off-contract playmaker opt to sign abroad with Catalans. He\u2019s signed a two-year deal with the second year believed to be optional but he is an immense coup.<\/p>\n

Lewis Dodd has shown plenty in Super League and will have learned plenty from the coaching Down Under, even if he hasn\u2019t managed to get lots of game time. Should he sign then it would make for a very interesting halves pairing.<\/p>\n

Props: Chris Satae and Josh Allen<\/p>\n

There is still expected to be change in Catalans forward pack but one man they have re-signed for next year is Chris Satae with the hard-hitting prop a reliable powerhouse. He could be joined in the front-row by overseas signing Josh Allen from Redcliffe Dolphins<\/a>. Still just 24, Joel Tomkins has claimed that Allen could become \u201cone of the trop front towers\u201d in Super League, which is an exciting prospect.<\/p>\n

Hooker: Benjamin Garcia<\/p>\n

Garcia has been used at nine this year but may well revert into the second-row next year, however, he is the only contracted hooker at the moment with Alrix Da Costa currently without a deal. That will likely change but as it stands the skipper might play at nine.<\/p>\n

Second-row: Zac Lipowicz and Romain Navarette<\/p>\n

The old warhorse Romain Navarette will go around again and he could partner Penrith Panthers forward Zac Lipowicz<\/a> who is the most recent man to sign for Catalans for 2025. The Polish international has played plenty of reserve grade in the NRL and looks set to step up to Super League.<\/p>\n

Loose forward: Oliver Partington<\/p>\n

Partington has been one of the most understated signings of the season with his incredible performances going under the radar on account of the fact they\u2019ve come in what is primarily a losing team. He leads Super League for tackles and has become more involved in ball-playing and will surely only improve in year two.<\/p>\n

Interchanges: Harvey Wilson, Franck Maria, Julian Bousquet, Cesar Rouge<\/p>\n

Currently, just six others are contracted with Jordan Dezaria and Ugo Tison the two not named to this bench, but this bench is itself very strong. Harvey Wilson has signed from Salford<\/a> and now looks to take the same path as Oliver Partington.<\/p>\n

Franck Maria has impressed and could be joined on the interchange bench by veteran Bousquet and utility Cesar Rouge. The likes of Da Costa, centres Arthur Romano, Matthieu Laguerre and the aforementioned Reimis Smith could all be handed new deals as well and be prominent players. Bayley Sironen and Tariq Sims are the other Dragons without deals for 2026.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Catalans Dragons are in the midst of a squad rebuild and their side could look very different in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76291,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-76290","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}