Tuesday 14 October 2014 09:15, UK
Catalan Dragons’ England international back rower Elliott Whitehead says the club’s aim next season is the reach the Super League playoffs once again.
The Perpignan-based club fell just short of reaching this year’s Grand Final after suffering a 30-12 to St Helens in the qualifying semi-final.
However, the Dragons dumped both Leeds Rhinos and Huddersfield Giants out of the playoffs and there is a growing belief the club can kick on again next season, especially with Australian half-back Todd Carney joining their ranks.
I don’t want to start saying we’re going to finish top and this and that next year. We’ve got some good recruits next year and hopefully they’ll add some extra quality to our team.
The Dragons gave their all in the defeat to Saints at Langtree Park and Whitehead insists Laurent Frayssinous’ men could still challenge for honours from eighth spot.
“I don’t want to start saying we’re going to finish top and this and that next year. We’ve got some good recruits next year and hopefully they’ll add some extra quality to our team,” he told Sky Sports.
“Hopefully we can get in those playoffs again. Even if we finish eighth we’ve proven that we can get to a semi-final and hopefully next year we can go one step further and reach the Grand Final.
“I think we went there (St Helens) knowing we could win. Just on the day we didn’t play to the ability we know we could do. Saints played that little bit better than us and they deserved the win.
“We knew the first five games would be tough. It took us until the sixth game to get our first win but after that we won more games and built confidence.
“We knew that if we got in those playoffs at the end of the year something could happen. Unfortunately it was just one hurdle too far to beat Saints to get to the Grand Final.”
Whitehead has grown and developed since leaving Bradford, so much so that the 25-year-old has been named in Steve McNamara’s England squad for the end-of-season Four Nations series against Australia, New Zealand and Samoa.
He believes learning from the likes of powerhouses Zeb Taia and Louis Anderson in training at the Dragons has helped him become an international-quality player.
“Probably people may not want to move to France because of the language and stuff, but I feel Catalan are a good club,” he added.
“I moved from Bradford for personal reasons. I wanted to progress as a player. I feel at Catalan I’ve done that.
“With players like Zeb Taia and Louis Anderson around me, they’ve been great for me as a player to progress. Just watching them in training I’ve learned a lot.
“Hopefully another back rower can come in in a couple of years’ time and hopefully, if I’m still around, they can learn from me.”
