York Knights vs Catalans Dragons Prediction: Backing the away win looks to be the play

Catalans Dragons have a new man in charge for the rest of the Betfred Super League season, and John Cartwright's first assignment is a weekend trip to take on York Knights at the LNER Community Stadium (8pm BST).

The Dragons have been without a head coach since the departure of Joel Tomkins, and now the popular former Hull FC man is charged with driving the Dragons into the play-off places. Read on for my York Knights vs Catalans Dragons predictions.

York Knights vs Catalans Dragons Odds

Team News

York boss Mark Applegarth is not having the best of luck with injuries - welcoming several players back last week but losing a few more this weekend.

Missing this week is the team's biggest name - and biggest presence - with former Warrington prop Paul Vaughan absent from an initial squad that is only 19-strong.

Jesse Dee and Matty Foster have suffered head injuries in consecutive matches, with protocols dictating that both players must now be stood down for eight weeks.

France international prop Justin Sangare also misses out through concussion protocols.

Returning this week are half-back Danny Richardson and the on-loan Tom Inman.

There are four changes for Catalans with four big names not included.

Former St Helens pair Tommy Makinson and Lewis Dodd are absent, as are young winger Leo Darrelatour and France prop Julian Bousquet.

The men to come in are Lenny Marc, Matthieu Laguerre, Adrian Delarose and journeyman winger Matty Russell.

Handicap 3-Way Catalans Dragons -8 @ 21/20

Both sides will see this as a winnable fixture in what is the first meeting between these two teams in six years. Catalans were 34-22 winners in that Challenge Cup tie in 2018, played at York City's Bootham Crescent.

The Dragons are one of those sides I always look at in the table and feel they should be much higher. This season was always going to be one of transition under a new head coach in Joel Tomkins after the long reign of Steve McNamara. But now Tomkins is gone too, and Cartwright gets his chance after doing a great job under difficult circumstances in Hull. The irony being of course that the availability of McNamara prompted Hull to oust Cartwright to free up the role - and now it is Cartwright stepping into McNamara's old shoes in the south of France.

York have picked up a couple of decent scalps this year and know how to score points. But they have shipped almost 300 points in 11 games - a big reason for the eight defeats suffered.

I feel a fully-fit York team would have a real chance of winning this game given the intensity with which they play in front of their passionate home support. But my instinct is they are a little stretched in resources and may well come unstuck against a Catalans side that continues to be incredibly unpredictable.

The Dragons have suffered three heavy defeats in a row. 58-10 last week at Wakefield, 33-18 at home to Leigh before that, and 46-4 at Leeds. That is hardly the kind of form that would lead you to back them in this one.

York meanwhile have lost their last two, but scored three tries in both of those games against Castleford and St Helens.

So the wise money would probably be on a home win here. Unless we get that new manager bounce. Yet the handicap with Betfred sees York given a 10-point start, underlining how depleted this Knights squad is right now.

I'm trusting my gut with a much-needed away win but would not be at all surprised to see the Knights put up another good fight.

Charlie Staines anytime tryscorer @ 10/11

Through a difficult first part of the season for the Dragons, a real star has emerged. Australian full-back Charlie Staines is fantastic to watch, and has already returned well for followers of this column in the anytime market.

Staines has actually been on a bit of a barren run - his try in defeat at Wakefield last week was his first since March. But he is a streaky player and I'm hoping the return to scoring form will prompt his next purple patch, and will take the 10/11 on Staines scoring at anytime in York.

Other appealing options this week include the returning Matthieu Laguerre at 7/4 and 3/1 half-back Toby Sexton.

For York I am looking at Scott Galeano (11/10) and Sam Wood (7/4).

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