At the start of the season, many were predicting this could be Catalans Dragons’ year.

After moving to within one game of last year’s Super League Grand Final following stunning play-off successes at Leeds and Huddersfield, the men from Perpignan looked set for 2015 lift-off.

With the majority of last season’s squad intact and having recruited Australian superstar Todd Carney and welcomed back French captain Remi Casty after his spell with Sydney City Roosters in the NRL, the Dragons looked full of firepower.

But no-one had then predicted the horrendous run of injuries they’d suffer.

There’s been no real let-up at any stage of the season, with marquee signing Carney having only managed a handful of games.

That crippling injury list was arguably at its height at Widnes on Sunday, with 11 out of the 25-man senior squad on the sidelines as the Vikings triumphed 29-22 at the Select Security Stadium.

It was the Dragons’ 10th defeat from 21 top-flight starts this year (there have also been nine defeats and two draws, including 22-22 against the Giants at Magic Weekend), to leave them seventh with two games of the regular season remaining.

Those are at home to the Giants tomorrow and at Leeds next weekend.

With the two Hull clubs breathing down their neck in eighth and ninth, they know they can’t afford to slip up against Huddersfield or their hopes of a top-eight finish could be over.

While injuries have dug deeper than ever before at the Dragons, one Catalans player has been bullet-proof.

That player is England back-row forward Elliott Whitehead.

He’s been an ever-present all year in a patched-up Dragons pack, with the consistency of his performances admired from far and wide. As a result, he’s joining Australian NRL side Canberra Raiders for 2016.

But before then, he’ll be wanting to finish his two years in the South of France on a real high - and pulling out all the stops against the Giants will be top of his wish list right now.

Luck is something that’s been in short supply for under-pressure Catalans coach Laurent Frayssinous.

As usual, his side’s home form has been top-four standard, with just one defeat to Leeds and a draw against Salford.

But away from Perpignan, it’s been pretty awful - a solitary success at bottom club Wakefield - and with a host of injuries on top of that, it’s made it the toughest of tasks for the former France Test stand-off.

And if he fails to get his side into the top eight this season, will Frayssinous still be in charge at the Stade Gilbert Brutus in 2016?