Huddersfield Giants host Salford Red Devils at the John Smith’s Stadium live on Sky Sports tomorrow night. The Giants will be looking to capitalise on an away win against Widnes last Friday in their first home game of the new season with Salford aiming to make amends for a home defeat to the Wigan Warriors last Saturday.
Rick Stone addressed the media this week and is looking to improve on a strong start to the season after a 28-16 win at the Select Security Stadium in the opening round. “It was a good performance, but we know we’ve always got room for improvement in us,” he said.
“I’m happy with the intent that the boys showed, they played nice and direct, fairly simple and in the end it is good to get an away win. It’s a short turn around this week with a few bumps and bruises, but I’m looking forward to getting back home and playing in front of the fans.”
Stone went on to speak about Tom Symonds injury, revealing he will be getting a scan this week to determine how long he will be out for. It’s believed to be irritating him and therefore he has been unable to train in the days following the match. “It’s unfortunate for Tom,” said Stone. “He’s worked pretty hard off the pitch because he hasn’t done a lot of running and the medical team has done a really good job with him.”
Salford go into their game away at Huddersfield following a loss at home to champions Wigan and the assistant coach of Salford Red Devils, Willie Poching, took time out of his team’s schedule to tell the Salford website: “The focus in all that we do in pre-season is always towards the first Super League match, because you want to get off to a good start, regardless as to who the opposition is, especially at home. Our biggest issue is consistency. We need to start well, finish well, and be just as good in between.”
The Red Devils won’t be looking back to previous fixtures ahead of tomorrow’s game with Poching stating: “I’m not one for looking back into the history of encounters, as such. They will be different teams going head to head, from years ago, but we are confident we can get the points.”
Huddersfield squad: McGillvary, Cudjoe, Gaskell, Murphy, Brough, Brierley, Rapira, Hinchcliffe, Wakeman, Ferguson, Lawrence, Leeming, Ikahihifo, Roberts, Ta’ai, Clough, Smith, McIntosh, Mellor.
Salford Squad: Walne, Kopczak, O’Brien, G Griffin, Johnson, Jones, Sa’u, Carney, Welham, Welham, Brining, Tasi, Mossop, Tomkins, Flanagan, Dobson, Evalds, Krasniqi, Lui, Lannon.
Referee: J Child
Touch Judges: J Thompson, W Turley
Video Referee: R Hicks