Jim Lenihan believes that Huddersfield Giants have added “the last piece of the puzzle” after the signing of Australian forward Zane Dunford.
Dunford joins the club from Brisbane Tigers and will reunite with Lenihan after the pair worked together at the Tigers at the start of this season.
Able to play in the back row or the middle, the 24-year-old adds to the Giants pack, and is the new boss’ first signing. He has now explained why he has brought him, and whether there is any scope for further additions.
“He’s a good, physical man,” Lenihan explained to the press. “He’s a good person, good character first and foremost. He’s a good footy player, which is nice, but he’s a good person as well.
“It’s really important to have people who want to buy in to what we’re doing here, buy into the Giants’ culture and the Giants’ way of thinking of working really hard.
“We’re going to start changing our mentality about who we want to be, and people like Zane, who carry a really good mentality and a really good physicality, are the people that we’ve got to get in here and start driving change.”
Dunford will land in the UK over the weekend, and could potentially debut next week against St Helens.
Interestingly, Lenihan also added that the new man was actually supposed to sign for Perth Bears after his sole season at Brisbane, but a move to the UK has scrapped a potential move to Mal Meninga’s side.
Dunford’s arrival suggested that there could be more recruits on the way, with Giants looking to move off the foot of the table. However, the boss believes he doesn’t need any more players to join the squad.
Asked if any more bodies could join, he replied: “I don’t think [so]. I think pretty much now, with at the squad at the moment, we’re pretty much full.
“He was like the last piece of the puzzle just to fill up now, just to get us going in a direction where we’ve got a mobile pack that can move really well.
“I think that’s our big thing at the moment – we’ve got to have a pack that can move really well.
“We’ve got to have a team that can move and be quick. The way games are going at the moment, you’ve got to be quick enough to defend. You’ve got to be able to move physically where the ball’s going.”
Huddersfield Giants boss issues injury update
As well as commenting on the new signing, Lenihan also revealed the latest on some of his injured players.
Adam Swift, who has missed the last two, will be out for another “week or two”, and has only recently returned to part-time training.
Sam Hewitt is facing three to four weeks before returning, whilst Sam Halsall continues to recover from that Achilles injury suffered against Leeds Rhinos.
