Well this is bullshit on a few levels.
About the only thing you got right is that they did run last in 2010.
Firstly the gun roster thing, he had a group of semi-professional french players, some of whom who could not speak English and then some journeyman players at the end of their careers looking for a retirement payment and a bit of a holiday in Europe. Have a look at the ages of the Australian players he had there in 2010.
In 2009 they made the semis, and he took them to the semi-final final only losing to the eventual premiers, Leeds.
Even in that shit year in 2010, Catalans made it to the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup.
This was the Catalans squad in 2010:
No ↓ Player Rep Age
McGUIRE, Casey 30
SHERWIN, Brent
32
BELL, Steve 34
JOHNSON, Dallas 28
WALKER, Chris 30
MOGG, Adam 33
CARLAW, Dane 30
GREENSHIELDS, Clint 28
GUISSET, Jérôme 32
ELIMA, Olivier 27
FAKIR, Jamal 28
MOUNIS, Grégory 25
TOUXAGAS, Julien 26
BOSC, Thomas 27
MARTINS, Sébastien 25
CASTY, Rémi 25
FERRIOL, David 31
RAGUIN, Sébastien 31
SA, Setaimata 22
GOSSARD, Cyrille 28
PELO, Dimitri 25
BENTLEY, Andrew 25
BENTLEY, Kane 23
STACUL, Cyril 25
BAILE, Jean-Philippe 23
VACCARI, Frédéric 22
BARTHAU, William 20
GIGOT, Tony 19
GUASCH, David 20
SIMON, Mickaël 23
If that is a gun roster you are a shit judge of football teams.
At a lower level of coaching he took the Toowoomba Clydesdale team to a premiership in the Qld Cup in 2001. He took over an Ipswich Jets team in the Qld cup that had run 9th for a couple of seasons. In his first year in 2007 they came 4th. In his second year in 2008 they won the minor premiership but were beaten in the grand final.
He is at 2-2 in State of Origin with Qld losing a host of champion players during his tenure. He has been able to get a far weaker Qld squad to run NSW close. But don't let any of those facts get in the way of your load of crap narrative.
Firstly, I think a crap narrative is playing his Queensland Cup record as some sort of ace card. And your narrative of his time in Perpignan is jaundiced to some degree.
Dragons had been 3rd under Mick Potter in 2008, dropped to 8th under Walters in 2009, then 14th in 2010. Trent Robinson immediately got them back to 6th, then 4th, before going on to better things.
My point about Catalans was that they had a far superior roster
compared to those teams that finished just above them on the table.
To reiterate - they 'won' the spoon with just 6 wins from 27 rounds. It nearly ruined them.
And if those maturing players were allowed to have '
a bit of a holiday' then that is surely down to the head coach. They were entitled to do much better than last in that standard of competition.
'Holidays in France' just didn't happen under Mick Potter or Trent Robinson.
Any SL squad at that time with
NINE NRL players - including 5 Queensland Origin players (Bell, Mogg, Walker, Carlaw, McGuire) - was bound to be a cut above those carried by such as Salford, Harlequins (London), Wakefield and fading Bradford because quotas didn't allow 'heartland' clubs that many.
Clint Greenshields may have had a modest NRL career at the Dragons and Cowboys but he was a hero in Perpignan, becoming the greatest try-scorer in Catalans' history.
Brent Sherwin was a 2004 GF winner with the Bulldogs and Canterbury Player of the Year in 2002 when they were infamously rubbed out when top of the table.....
They did indeed reach the 2010 Cup semi-final, thanks to the luck of the draw, beating Salford, Crusaders and second division Batley....before playing Warrington and losing 54-12.
Crusaders (a fledgling Welsh club) were allowed as many imports as Catalans in 2010 and they made the play-offs (8th) under ex-GB coach Brian Noble.
Crusaders' 2010 imports were: Nick Youngquest, Vince Mellars, Ryan O'Hara, Lincoln Withers, Rocky Trimarchi, Frank Winterstein, Michael Witt, Luke Dyer, Jarrod Sammut.
The overseas signings of other 'also-ran' clubs who missed play-offs in 2010 ?
Bradford - Steve Menzies, Chris Nero, Brett Kearney, Matt Orford, Heath L'Estrange.
Wakefield - Glenn Morrison, Tevita Leo-Latu, Ben Jeffries, Daryl Millard, Shane Tronc, Charlie Leaeno.
Salford - Mark Henry, Jeremy Smith (half-back not forward), Phillip Leuluai, an ageing Willie Talau.
London - David Howell, Luke Dorn, Chad Randall, Luke Williamson, Karl Temata.
After his stint playing a big part in the development of Sam Burgess and Elliott Whitehead at Bradford, Steve Menzies moved on to Catalans.
'Beaver' played until nearly 40 without letting his standards drop or looking like he was there for 'a bit of a holiday'. Professional coaches don't allow that.