Huddersfield Giants

Huddersfield Giants boss hits out over refereeing as winless streak continues

by
Sam Cook
April 13, 2025

Huddersfield Giants head coach Luke Robinson has questioned the way his side’s loss against Catalans Dragons was refereed.

The Giants were heavily rotated once again as their injury crisis continues to take its toll and despite taking a 6-0 lead, they fell to a 38-18 defeat with Catalans finding it too easy at times, particularly due to their hulking forward pack.

Matters were made more difficult when Fenton Rogers went off with an ankle injury after just five minutes and Sam Hewitt found himself in the sin bin, however, head coach Luke Robinson picked out another key reason why he felt his side lost.

The Giants head coach labelled the game “pedestrian” and claimed it looked like a completely different game to that of the NRL on account of how the ruck was refereed, something the Huddersfield boss took issue with as he spoke live on Sky Sports immediately after the game.

Huddersfield Giants boss hits out over refereeing as winless streak continues

“I think the game as a spectacle wasn’t very good. I think the game was pedestrian,” Robinson argued, before claiming the play the ball speed to be the reason why.

He argued: “I thought the play the ball speed was unbelievably slow. If you watched any NRL games over the last couple of days and looked at that then you’d think it was a different game that we’re playing.”

“I think they’re a little bit cuter,” he said of Catalans, adding: “We’ve got a lot of young kids and a lot of naivety. They slowed the ruck down really well. They made the ruck slow, the bodies on the floor, Ash Golding was constantly having to pick the ball up on their try line and pass the ball over the top.

“That comes with experience, they’re a little bit smarter in that aspect. Thank God that the captain’s challenge has come in this year because we’ve probably wouldn’t have got them decisions either so I’m glad that that’s coming we can overturn a fair few decisions.”

Despite his disappointment with how the ruck was officiated, Robinson was keen to praise his team’s efforts but also couldn’t help but point to the continuing crisis in terms of injuries.

“There’s not a lack of effort and desire,” the Huddersfield Giants boss explained.

“I think probably what sums us up at the moment is Fenton Rogers in the first five minutes looks like he’s done a syndesmosis. It’s not been confirmed yet but it doesn’t look very well.

“We’re already depleted in numbers. It has been well documented, we haven’t played with a spine and they haven’t even trained together yet. We’ve got a lot of young kids putting a lot of effort and desire.”

One those young kids, he said: “They were a little bit naive in the way they played the game. We could have flipped it and slowed the ruck down a little bit more like they did and that will come with experience.

“We’ve got a lot of young kids that are getting a lot of minutes and a lot of experience. I wouldn’t like them all playing at the same time as we are doing. I’d like to bring them in one at a time when things are going well but unfortunately we’re having to blood them and give them experience. It’s not great at the moment but hopefully it will benefit them.”