Huddersfield Giants’ hopes of making the play-offs battling with Leeds Rhinos, Hull FC, Hull KR, Warrington Wolves and Salford Red Devils were hurt yesterday by defeat in a postponed Round One defeat to St Helens.
The Giants didn’t exactly have the rub of the green as they lost Matty English to a yellow card and then a Joe Greenwood to a red card.
The red card was hugely controversial as Ian Watson felt that Greenwood had been hit in the face which prompted him to retaliate.
This wasn’t the only thing Watson wasn’t pleased with. The Giants boss questioned the Six Again rule accusing Saints of exploiting the six again rule.
“I’d like a little bit of understanding. The rule I hate is that when St Helens kick it to your corner and then just three or four men just lie on top of you all the time to get a six again restart. They did it at least five times off kicks in the first half. They did it again off a seven tackle set. Yeah, we can’t buy a six again,” he said on BBC Radio Leeds.
“Yeah, it’s a bad rule. I said it at the coaches meeting at the start of the year, it needed out ruling and there should be a penalty for that because teams are getting advice trying to get that set start and getting a real control D line.
“That’s not part of the game, the rule is a terrible, terrible rule and needs kicking out because there’s too many teams that are just trying to slow everything down all the time.
“We’re trying to have a quick entertaining game, aren’t we, isn’t that what kind of the mentality of what the six agains were for. Not to keep slowing it down, you give seven tackle sets away and then the players are lying in the rook so your dummy halves are having to handle the ball.
“The way they play is really good and I can’t knock them because they are a champion team in what they do. I like them when they just play the game and when they’re not doing all that stuff. St Helens are a good team when they’re not doing that stuff. That stuff just kind of puts a slant I think on what they do achieve mate.”
