Catalans Dragons 2025 season review
- Overview
- Highs
- Lows
- 2025 RLB Player of the Year – Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet
- Reasons to be positive in 2026
- My 2025 prediction – 4th
- Final 2025 position – 9th (-5)
Overview
By their usual standards, Catalans were abysmal in 2025, as they recorded their lowest finish since 2017.
Despite a number of high-profile signings heading into the campaign like Luke Keary, Nick Cotric, Tevita Pangai Junior and Tommy Makinson, the Dragons never got firing on a consistent basis, and they never looked remotely like threatening the play-off places.
They did at least reach the Challenge Cup semi-finals, but a 36-12 loss to Hull KR proved to be Steve McNamara’s penultimate match in charge, before his exit was confirmed a week later after a 40-0 thrashing by St. Helens in Super League.
Joel Tomkins came in as interim coach, and despite just one win in his first 11 matches, he was appointed permanently towards the end of the year, just as the Dragons started to find some form.
Highs
Four wins in their last five games of the year saw Catalans end the season on a bit of a high. Their 16-8 win at Leeds in Round 26 was particularly impressive.
They also managed a couple of nillings in 2025 – against the Rhinos and Huddersfield Giants.
Individually, young fullback Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet had a breakout year, and in a team with lots of players who appeared to just be going through the motions, he was a standout.
Lows
It’s never nice to see a coach lose their job, and in Steve McNamara’s case it was particularly tough to watch. In his near eight-year spell in charge, he led the Dragons to a Challenge Cup success and two Grand Finals, but his exit had looked inevitable for some time.
There were plenty of bad performances throughout the campaign, but Rounds 11-13 were especially bad for Catalans, as they were nilled three weeks in a row.
Round 14 wasn’t much better. Although they scored at Hull KR, it came in a 68-6 loss – one of five occasions where they conceded 40+ points.
2025 RLB Player of the Year – Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet
I’ve already mentioned the 20-year-old’s contribution, but it’s worth reiterating again what a strong season he had compared to most of his teammates. He finished the year with 18 appearances, six tries and 42 goals, as he made the number one jersey his own following Sam Tomkins’ retirement.
Reasons to be positive in 2026
Four wins from their final five games gives Catalans some momentum heading into 2026, and as is often the case in Perpignan, there’ll be wholesale changes on the playing front.
The likes of Toby Sexton, Lewis Dodd and Charlie Staines will hopefully fare better than the last crop of NRL players who arrived, while Josh Simm and Harvey Wilson are useful additions from Super League.
My 2025 prediction – 4th
Final 2025 position – 9th (-5)
I had a shocker here and I’ll take that. I fully expected the Dragons to bounce back from an underwhelming 2024, but instead it proved to be the start of their downfall rather than a blip. It’s all change next year though, so they’ll be a tough one to call in 2026.
