Catalans Dragons have revealed that Tom Johnstone turned down a marquee player-level salary in favour of a return to Wakefield Trinity in 2025.
The Dragons announced on Wednesday that Johnstone would be leaving the club at the end of the season, as has been speculated for a number of months. Johnstone will sign at Wakefield, marking a return to the club he left only two years ago ahead of their likely return to Super League.
They stated, “The England international declined a contract extension with a significant pay increase, with marquee player status in the Dragons squad.”
“The club could not resist and fully respects his desire to bring his young family back to England and have that crucial support from relatives, even though he was offered both contractual and rugby temptations to stay.”Johnstone acknowledged in his self-report that he thought the moment had come to go back to England.
He said: “Firstly I’d like to thank Steve (McNamara) for taking a chance on signing me and giving me this opportunity after a tough few years of injuries and for having the faith in me. Also thank you to Matt Parr for working so closely with me keeping me fit and healthy these past few seasons.
“Without them both, I don’t believe I would have played the amount of games I have and achieved personally what I did.
“I would also like to thank Bernard Guasch, the staff at Brutus and the fans for welcoming me into this amazing club, the atmosphere in the Brutus is incredible and I will remember the 2023 semi final forever.
“Me and my family have loved our time in this beautiful place, adapting to the proud Catalan and French culture. But we feel it is the right time for us to return home to be closer to our family and friends.
“Although we didn’t quite meet our goals of winning the Grand Final last year, I’m incredibly proud of what we accomplished. However, I swear I’ll do everything in my power to end my career with this club on a positive note and win the competition as the club and supporters deserve.”
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