Mcnamara: Dragons will be back in Final
STEVE Mcnamara believes Sione Mata’utia could have been sent off for striking James Maloney in the opening minutes of the Grand Final.
Mcnamara’s Catalans agonisingly missed out on a maiden Grand Final triumph after going down to three-peat champions St Helens 12-10.
But the Hullborn Dragons chief was left bemoaning an incident in the opening five minutes after an altercation between Mata’utia and Maloney saw the Saints forward connect with the face of the Catalans veteran.
The incident left Mcnamara frustrated, while he also felt Fouad Yaha could have been awarded a penalty try when Tommy Makinson was sin-binned.
When asked about whether Mata’utia should be sin-binned he countered with: “Well, send off, isn’t it? That sort of incident, they generally go back and stop the play and look at it. I thought there was a lot of those bits and pieces but it’s a big call.”
On Yaha, he added: “It could have been given, yeah. Without a doubt, he scores the try. A couple of big calls go against us and generally during the game I thought the ten metres was really hard as well. But we lost the game, a game we prepared so well for and invested a lot in.”
Mcnamara was defiant in his post-match press conference as he expressed his pride following the defeat, before vowing to bring the Dragons back to Old Trafford in the future.
“We’ve no regrets, we left everything out there on the field, absolutely everything.
“It’s a Grand Final, two tries to one, it comes down to a two-point game and we come down on the wrong side of it. I’m extremely proud of what they’ve achieved this season but extremely disappointed.
“This isn’t the last step for the Dragons, it’s the next step and we’ve got to keep making steps.
“What it has done has opened up a brand new market and exposed a whole new scenario with Catalans and French rugby league, TV cameras from Barcelona, from Paris. I think it has opened everyone else’s eyes to what can be achieved. It’s sickening at the minute, I’ll be honest. It’s a real kick in the teeth, we’ll be back, don’t worry about that, it’s just the next step, we’re only 16 years old.”
Kevin Naiqama has confirmed he will retire after he scored two tries to help St Helens beat Catalans as Saints clinched their third consecutive Super League trophy.
Maloney, who also played his last game before retiring, edged the Dragons in front with a penalty in the eighth minute before Naiqama scored the first try and helped give St Helens the lead heading into the interval.
The Catalans hit the front again straight after St Helens’ Makinson was sin-binned.
Mike Mcmeeken went over the whitewash but the Saints clinched victory when Lachlan Coote, playing his last game before joining Hull KR, converted after Naiqama scored for the second time.
Naiqama said: “I haven’t changed my mind. I’m definitely going to miss this team, the staff, the players, the fans, I cannot speak highly enough of the club. They have done more for me than I have done for them, it is definitely the right time for me to go home.”