CATALANS DRAGONS’ captain Ben Garcia will switch to hooker this season with the French international skipper “the most excited” he’s ever been for the campaign ahead.
Coach Steve McNamara announced his squad numbers for 2025 at a glittering season-launch party at Perpignan’s Palais Des Expositions.
All six new signings are included in the opening 13, Tommy Makinson at 2, Nick Cotric 5, Luke Keary 6, Tevita Pangai 8, Elliott Whitehead will wear 12 and Oliver Partington 13.
Sam Tomkins returns to the number one shirt of his Wigan pomp after Arthur Mourgue moved to scrum-half at seven.
But the biggest surprise was the switch from loose-forward to number nine for Garcia, although he already regularly rotates both positions during games.
He told League Express it makes no difference what number is on his shirt, he will always give his all for Les Dracs.
He added, “I will do anything and play anywhere for this great club and with our new team-mates in the squad I feel more excited than ever before at the start of this new season.
“I would love to continue here for the rest of my career. There is no better feeling than running out in front of our passionate supporters at Stade Gilbert Brutus.
“There is a fire inside Catalans Dragons and it has always been there.
“But it has been stoked by the two Grand Final defeats in recent seasons, it burns inside of me and I know many of my team-mates also feel it.”
Four players receive their debut numbers for the club’s 20th Super League season: Franck Maria, Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet, Yacine Ben Abdeslem and Clément Martin.
In other news at the season-launch, club President Bernard Guasch announced progress on long-awaited plans for redevelopment at Stade Brutus.
Regional and city authorities have now approved joint funding of €8m of the total cost of €12m for the project, which will begin with demolition of the old concrete Guasch Stand at the end of season 2025.
Building work to extend the Puig Aubert Stand continuously down to the swimming pool end will then commence throughout season 2026, with the Dragons taking some of their home fixtures on the road, including plans for a Wigan game in Paris.
2025 Catalans Dragons squad: 1 Sam Tomkins, 2 Tommy Makinson, 3 Arthur Romano, 4 Reimis Smith, 5 Nick Cotric, 6 Luke Keary, 7 Arthur Mourgue, 8 Tevita Pangai, 9 Ben Garcia, 10 Julian Bousquet, 11 Tariq Sims, 12 Elliott Whitehead, 13 Oliver Partington, 14 Alrix Da Costa, 15 Tevita Satae, 16 Romain Navarrete, 17 Bayley Sironen, 18 César Rougé, 19 Paul Séguier, 20 Jordan Dezaria, 21 Théo Fages, 22 Fouad Yaha, 23 Matthieu Laguerre, 24 Franck Maria, 25 Tanguy Zenon, 26 Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet, 27 Yacine Ben Abdeslem, 28 Clément Martin.
