Catalans Dragons bolster coaching staff with addition of Wigan Warriors, London Broncos pair

Drew Darbyshire
Joel Tomkins, Ryan Sheridan Catalans Dragons Alamy

Joel Tomkins (left) and Ryan Sheridan (right) have joined Catalans Dragons' backroom staff

Catalans Dragons coach Steve McNamara has bolstered his backroom staff with the appointments of Joel Tomkins and Ryan Sheridan as his assistant coaches.

The Dragons were on the lookout for a new assistant to McNamara following the confirmed departure of Andy Last, who will return to Hull FC as an assistant to John Cartwright in 2025.

Tomkins will now return to Perpignan, where he spent the final two seasons of his career in 2020 and 2021.

He returned to rugby league ahead of this season with Wigan Warriors, where he was youth performance coach and headed up the club’s scholarship team as well as assisting with the academy. He will join the Dragons as defence coach.

Meanwhile, Sheridan makes the move to the south of France having spent the last two seasons as an assistant to Mike Eccles at London Broncos. The former England and Ireland international will be in charge of Catalans’ attack.

“I am very happy to welcome both Joel and Ryan into our existing coaching staff,” McNamara said

“Joel will work predominately on defence where his vast knowledge as a player and recent time spent on the Wigan coaching staff will be a huge asset for us. He is a young, ambitious and hugely talented coach who is exactly the right type of character to drive forward our defence principles and systems.

“Ryan comes with outstanding recommendations from many people he has worked with in the game. He is vastly experienced within different types of systems and will bring different thoughts ideas and details into our attack.”

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