Ian Watson explains Huddersfield’s tough start to the season

Ian Watson’s Huddersfield Giants travel to take on his former side Salford Red Devils.

Both clubs were expected to push for the top four in 2023 and have delivered impressive performances but haven’t quite got the results.

For Huddersfield it has been a tough start compared to last year and Ian Watson explained this week the impact of having so many players in the World Cup has had on his side’s start to the season:

“I think it gives us a reason but what you don’t want to do is use it as an excuse. We probably didn’t have enough time together this pre-season whereas last year we had a hell of a long time, and we probably needed it because we’d changed quite a lot of things within the team.

“This year it’s kind of your bigger players or your main spine players that you miss. So if you look at January, Jake Connor wasn’t in training, Tui Lolohea wasn’t in training, you’re only just getting your Chris Hill and Nathan Peats’ back.

“You’ve gone through a chunk of your pre-season without some of your main spine players and like I say your spine is probably one of your biggest areas, if you get that continuity there everyone plays off them and the timing and relationships get better.

“We can use it as a little bit of a reason but we don’t want it to be an excuse. There’s been some games where we have shown little glimpses and we’re getting there but week in week out we’ll still keep building to be better at what we do.”