Tony Gigot to be Catalans Dragons' first-choice full-back ahead of Morgan Escare

Escare has been a virtual ever-present for the Dragons over the last three seasons but for 2016 coach Laurent Frayssinous has given the number one jersey to the versatile Tony Gigot, who began Saturday's pre-season friendly at Huddersfield in the full-back role.

Gigot, now in his second spell with the Catalans, spent most of last season at centre deputising for the injured Vincent Duport, who is now fully recovered.

"Tony Gigot has been spending a lot of time at training at full-back and I think he did well against Huddersfield," Frayssinous said.

"I'm not saying he's better than Morgan but he's doing a better job defending the way we want to play. Morgan will still have some game time at full-back."

Frayssinous has shaken up his squad after the disappointment of 2015, when they finished eighth at the end of the 23-game regular season.

In addition to recruiting experienced trio Richie Myler, Jodie Broughton and Paul Aiton from Super League and Glenn Stewart, Dave Taylor, Justin Horo and Pat Richards from the NRL, Frayssinous has bolstered his squad with promising local youngsters.

"Last year we had just 22 to 25 players, which was one of the mistakes we made," he said. "Now we train with at least 37 boys and young players like Thibault Margalet, Hugo Perez and Stan Robin will stay with us instead of the reserve grade.

"We'll not make the same errors we made in past. This season we not only have quality but also quantity in our squad.

"I used to give the numbers according to the players' wishes and habits but, w ith the large number of new faces in the squad, I decided to change this system.

"Squad numbers this season give an idea of our starting 17, although the players will be chosen by their performances and fitness."

Frayssinous was pleased with the performance of his new-look team in their 26-16 defeat to the Giants, even if the relatively mild conditions were not to his liking.

"I wanted it to be cold and rainy, but it's good to come here," he said. "We want to improve our away form and one of the reasons I wanted to play one trial away was to try out our new regime and share with the boys some new things we will be doing this season.

"I'm really happy with the performance. Two weeks ago we played a French selection without some of our key players and we won by 40. This time we had a good test against a very good team who have been in the top four the last few years.

"We know what we need to work on the next two weeks."

Taylor and former Leeds hooker Aiton sat out the trip to Huddersfield but are expected to recover from minor injuries in time to make their debuts against Wigan in the club's Super League opener on February 5.

Louis Anderson is also set to return but Thomas Bosc remains a doubt and Remi Casty will sit out the opening few weeks as he continues to recover from a knee reconstruction.