Huddersfield Giants travel to face Leigh Leopards on Friday and Ian Watson’s side have been boosted by the return of England prop Chris Hill.
Hill featured for England in the end-of-season series against Tonga but much of his pre-season has been focused on recovery and thankfully for the Giants he’s back for round one.
The last time these two sides met saw the floodlights go out and lead to the game being abandoned and then finished two days later, the final 32 minutes being a point of controversy with Giants’ head coach Ian Watson.
He bemoaned Leigh’s ability to make immediate changes and for their player to recover whilst his missed out due to injury, even claiming that the Leopards exploited the match abandonment.
The two teams get to go at it again on Friday night with Huddersfield coming off a loss in their final pre-season game against Castleford Tigers.
Huddersfield Giants see three key players miss out
Huddersfield Giants captain Luke Yates misses out on Friday’s game. – Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com
Whilst the Giants have been able to name a strong side they are missing three of their most effective players due to either injury or suspension.
Those three are half-back Tui Lolohead and forwards Luke Yates and Joe Greenwood, the captain Yates being a major miss.
There’s also no place for Jake Bibby or new signing Andre Savelio who is believed to still be dealing with an injury.
New signings that do feature include Hugo Salabio, Elliot Wallis, Tom Deakin, Jack Murchie, Adam Clune and Adam Swift.
Both Swift and Wallis have been on fire in pre-season each hauling in the tries, something that the Giants’ wingers in 2023 failed to do.
Olly Russell will partner Adam Clune in the absence of Tui Lolohea whilst Jake Connor will anchor the side from full-back as he did last season.
Huddersfield Giants 21-Man Squad
1 – Jake Connor
2 – Adam Swift
3 – Esan Marsters
4 – Kevin Naiqama
7 – Adam Clune
8 – Chris Hill
9 – Adam Milner
11- Jack Murchie
12- Sam Hewitt
14 – Ash Golding
15 – Matty English
17 – Olly Wilson
18 – Seb Ikahihifo
19 – Tom Deakin
20 – Elliot Wallis
21 – Leroy Cudjoe
22 – Harvey Livett
23 – Olly Russell
24 – Sam Halsall
26 – Hugo Salabio
Leigh Leopards have now named their squad for the clash and they look to be close to full strength with star signing Matt Moylan set to make his Super League debut.
The Leopards’ starting 13 looks set to pick itself based on both squad numbers and the players who starred last year with star winger Josh Charnley part of a back five featuring Zak Hardaker, Ricky Leutele, Tom Briscoe and Gaz O’Brien.
Playmakers Lam and Moylan will be aided by Edwin Ipape and John Asiata, whilst the remaining forwards Tom Amone, Robbie Mulhern, Kai O’Donnell and Jack Hughes look set to build on strong seasons too.
New recruits Owen Trout, Dan Norman, Matt Davis and Ben McNamara are all named as well as Frankie Halton who signed last season but missed much of the year through injury.
Leigh Leopards 21-Man Squad
1 – GARETH O’BRIEN
2 – TOM BRISCOE
3 – ZAK HARDAKER
4 – RICKY LEUTELE
5 – JOSH CHARNLEY
6 – MATT MOYLAN
7 – LACHLAN LAM
8 – TOM AMONE
9 – EDWIN IPAPE
10 – ROBBIE MULHERN
11 – KAI O’DONNELL
12 – JACK HUGHES
13 – JOHN ASIATA
14 – DAN NORMAN
15 – MATT DAVIS
16 – FRANKIE HALTON
17 – OWEN TROUT
18 BEN NAKUBUWAI
19 – ED CHAMBERLAIN
21 – BEN MCNAMARA
24 – UMYLA HANLEY
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