Catalans Dragons boss Steve McNamara reflects on his side’s Grand Final loss

Catalans Dragons head coach Steve McNamara says he feels ‘flat’ whilst discussing his side’s gutting loss in the Super League Grand Final.

The French outfit missed out of the Super League title once again after being defeated 10-2 by Wigan Warriors, making it two losses at Old Trafford in three years.

McNamara has been at the helm since 2017 and has guided his team to near greatness. However, they just didn’t have enough when it mattered most. McNamara said:

“I’m flat, but I’ve got no regrets whatsoever. I just wish we could’ve played a bit better in a couple of areas.

“It’s hugely disappointing for the team, but I think it shows how far we’ve come that expectation is to be winning these things.”

Catalans started the game well, they looked the more threatening side but couldn’t pierce the Wigan defence. As the game wore on they started to get sloppy, their defence opened up and their attacking flair abandoned them.

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The Dragons had been excellent all season, especially at putting points on the board. However, on the biggest occasion they failed to cross the line for a try in the entire 80 minutes. McNamara went on to say:

“To concede one try in a Grand Final and lose is hard to take. The game was a tussle and very draining, it wasn’t a great spectacle.

“Our last plays have been good all season, but they weren’t good enough tonight, and there’s were. I think we defended great, but we were poor in attack.

“The DNA of the club has to be what you saw tonight. We weren’t great but we’re a team that won’t give in and if we continue going the way we are then we’ll get more chances.”

Catalans will now go through a transitional period, with many changes to their squad. Nevertheless, they have the Winter break to take a step back, reflect on what went wrong and prepare to go again next season, where they should once again be hot contenders.