After Huddersfield Giants’ thrashing at the hands of Leeds Rhinos, big questions are being asked of everyone at the club.
The Giants, who were predicted by many to challenge for silverware this season with a star-studded squad, are languishing in the bottom half of the table and are out of the Challenge Cup.
After a poor run of results, they entered their game against Leeds Rhinos looking to get back to form but the complete opposite happened as they were hammered 54-0 at Headingley on a night to forget.
Though there is enough of the season to go for the Giants to make up for their poor first half of the campaign, the manner of the defeat at the hands of the Rhinos leaves more questions than answers.
And speaking after the game, the man who is under the most pressure, head coach Ian Watson, admitted that he and the players were playing for their futures at the club in the coming weeks.
“I don’t know as far as ripping up contracts, but I think if they if they want to be better they’ve got to show that they want to be better. If we need to look at something different then we need to look at something different,” Watson said.
He added: “Are some of the players playing for their futures over the next few weeks? I think everyone is, me included. I think it starts from me. Like I said, I’ve done it before and I feel I left a club that I left before in a really strong position to go forward with the players that I brought in. But they had the mentality that I wanted.
“We need to make sure that’s in here. I did think we had that group, but for one reason or another there’s a few players who fell way, way off that for this year. Whether it’s too comfortable with me, however, I don’t know. I don’t know. I’ll have a look at it, mate.”
Watson also explained that he has trust in some players but will have to have a look at things following a result that has many questioning what lies ahead for a club who were in a strong position at the start of 2023.
“I think sometimes, yeah, you put… I trust people. I put a lot of trust in them to do what they need to do, but at some point as well you’ve kind of got to go away from that and you’ve got to be a little bit ruthless if you’re going to succeed at things. We’ll see.
“I’ll have another good look at it. I know from live, from watching the game, where there’s certain things that I want to look at and there’ll be certain ones potentially that I’ve brought in. There’s some players that I’ll back to the hilt in there because I believe in them and I trust them.”
The result comes a day after Sky Sports linked former St Helens boss Justin Holbrook with the coaching gig at the John Smith’s Stadium, a rumour which brought about a strong response from the Huddersfield club who denied any links to the Australian after his departure from the Gold Coast Titans.
Speaking on if the saga played a part in his side’s woeful display at Headingley, Watson said: “I don’t know [if it was unhelpful]. You’d have to ask the players, wouldn’t you? When I seen it or when I heard it, I didn’t actually hear it. I got a phone call saying, have you heard what’s been said on Sky and I said no.
“My thing would be Justin’s a great coach I know he’s just been sacked himself but I’d rather think people look at some of the British coaches before they look at an Australian coach.
“He was brought across here and given the best club in the country and the players at the at the pump, we’ve not got the players at their pump at the moment, we’re trying to build something, but that doesn’t happen just overnight.
“He had a great win record over here, but then over there he’s gone over there, and if you want to say like I’m failing now then he’s probably potentially failed in his job.
“But he’s a great coach from all accounts from what I’ve been told, from the people I speak to they speak highly of him.
“Does it mean he’s a bad coach because it’s not worked out? It just means that the clubs probably not fitted him and then players haven’t fitted him.”
It was an emotional night for Watson, who is facing arguably the toughest period in his coaching career so far having left Salford for Huddersfield three seasons ago now.
He concluded by passionately stating his belief in the Giants club and boardroom still being firmly behind him, while having confidence they will back him through this difficult stage in his tenure.
“I know they back me,” he said. “I know they back me, they’ve been really good with me since I came. I told them all along what the plan was and I told them that it wouldn’t all be nice going along there.
“I think it does have an impact on you (the pressure on his job). Because you’re always like thinking, what’s all that about? There’s no smoke without fire. Where’s that come from? You’d love to know the source. It’s either good journalism or it’s bad journalism, whichever way you look at it.”
