Steve McNamara has left his role as Catalans Dragons head coach with immediate effect, with Joel Tomkins to take temporary charge.
The French club have won just five of 11 Betfred Super League matches this season and were thrashed 40-0 by St Helens last time out.
Assistant coach Joel Tomkins – brother of player Sam – has stepped in on a caretaker basis and will lead the team in Saturday’s match against Wigan in Perpignan.
McNamara has been Super League’s longest-serving head coach, having taken charge of Catalans in 2017 and saved them from relegation in the Million Pound Game.
Under McNamara, the club prospered, winning the Challenge Cup for the first time in 2018 and also reaching Super League Grand Finals in 2021 and 2023.
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Highlights of St Helens’ game against Catalans Dragons in the Super League.
But they have struggled during the current campaign and their heavy defeat to Saints was preceded by a thumping Challenge Cup loss to Hull KR in York.
“It was pretty quick, really. We went into the club as normal for our eight o’clock meeting and Steve came in and said that he had a meeting before that and that the club had made the decision to let him go as head coach, which was pretty tough,” Tomkins told The Verdict.
“We didn’t really see it coming first thing in the morning, but given the defeat last week to St Helens, the club have obviously thought about that. It wasn’t just that one defeat, I think the owner is not happy with the season overall as he shouldn’t be.
“We are losing more games than we are winning so he obviously thinks the change needs to come and he thinks moving the head coach can be the catalyst for that.
“We thought we had a very good squad this year, I still think we have got a very good squad. For some reason, it has not clicked.
“We got off to a pretty poor start, hit a little bit of form, then died off again. The players, we take responsibility for that. We are certainly part of the reason that Steve is no longer head coach.
“I certainly did not envisage that by May we would be in this situation.”
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Leigh Leopards and Catalans Dragons scuffled at the final whistle after a tight Leigh win.
Tomkins also confirmed that his brother will have the remainder of this season in charge despite only having been assistant coach at the club for a short period of time.
“So, my brother Joel will take over in the interim. Yesterday, when Steve left first thing, Joel took over training,” he added.
“He will be in charge. We have got 16 games left in the regular season. Joel will come in and try and implement some change and whilst that is going on, the club will be doing some hard work finding the best option.
“Whether that is Joel going on further, bringing somebody in, I am not too sure. I am not privy to those conversations.
“It is all very new. There are many decisions to be made but the one that has been made is Joel will be taking over.
“He is relatively new as a coach, he has only been assistant for half a season, so he has got the rest of this season to implement some change and hopefully as a group we can prove we are a little bit better than what we have been showing on the field.”
Wilkin: McNamara has done an incredible job
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Speaking on Sky Sports News, Jon Wilkin reacts to Luke Keary’s comments calling the Super League ‘unwatchable’ and ‘horrendous’.
Sky Sports Rugby League’s Jon Wilkin…
“I think Steve had created such high expectations for himself and his organisation, we had talked about Catalans as a top two or three club.
“We had expected them to be near the top of the table and that is all credit to the hard work Steve did to get them into that position in the first place.
“But in light of last season’s form, which was poor, they missed the play-offs, and in the light of being knocked out of the Challenge Cup semi-final handsomely by Hull KR, then being destroyed by St Helens last week. You felt like pressure was mounting.
“I will throw this in as well. I think Luke Keary’s comments criticising the competition were destabilising.
“Bernard Guasch has then made the decision to let Steve go.
“I think it is sad because he has done an incredible job, he is well liked, well respected, and has been the biggest advocate for rugby league in France while he has been out there coaching and he has done some incredible things.”
