WHEN Catalans hosted Warrington on the opening weekend of the 2017 Super League season, it is fair to say both sides had lofty ambitions.

Fast forward four months from that cold February evening and the reality could not be more different.

For either side, victory could spark a push to sneak into the top eight but defeat could almost certainly condemn them to a scrap for survival.

However, the Dragons arrive in Warrington having received a crucial boost.

Their search for a replacement for Laurent Frayssinous, sacked on May 22, finally ended on Monday with the appointment of former England boss Steve McNamara.

The new Dragons head coach returns from a spell in the NRL, where he held assistant coach positions at Sydney Roosters and New Zealand Warriors, to take charge of Saturday’s game.

On the face of it, his task seems a daunting one as he takes over a side that has won just one of its past eight games, including a damaging 56-12 defeat to Huddersfield last time out.

Their form has not been helped by injuries to key players such as Greg Bird and Brayden Wiliame, but the Frenchmen are still brimming with capable players.

Tony Gigot is a classy operator at full-back, while the half-back pairing of Luke Walsh and ex-Wire Richie Myler has the ability to cause any team problems.

Up front, any pack containing the likes of Sam Moa and Remi Casty is not one to be taken lightly.

INJURY NEWS:

MCNAMARA has been given a boost this week as four key players have been given the green light to return from injury.

Jason Baitieri, Justin Horo, Jodie Broughton and Ben Garcia have all been included in the Dragons squad for Saturday's game.

However, McNamara is still without the likes of Greg Bird and Brayden Wiliame.

SQUAD: 

Tony Gigot, Jodie Broughton, Fouad Yaha, Luke Walsh, Richie Myler, Sam Moa, Paul Aiton, Remi Casty, Louis Anderson, Justin Horo, Julian Bousquet, Ben Garcia, Jason Baitieri, Vincent Duport, Mikael Simon, Iain Thornley, Alrix Da Costa, Thibaud Margalet, Nabil Djalout.