Ian Watson explains why Hull KR bound Louis Senior didn’t play for Huddersfield Giants yesterday

Huddersfield, like a lot of teams in Super League, are undergoing something of an injury crisis.

This resulted in them recalling Louis Senior from his loan at Hull KR in a bit of an interesting situation. Senior is set to join the Robins permanently from 2023 onwards so was somewhat starting his time as a Robin prematurely until the Giants’ injury problems reached a point at which they needed him to return immediately.

However, he has yet to feature for the Giants despite further problems arising in the backs including Leroy Cudjoe’s suspension.

Many believed this would see Senior start alongside brother Innes outwide against Warrington yesterday but instead Josh Jones was selected at centre alongside Ash Golding down the right with Innes Senior on the left wing alongside Toby King.

When asked why Louis Senior didn’t get the nod despite the injuries, coach Ian Watson explained that Senior isn’t quite ready to be thrown into the thick of it as he gets back into the mix at the Giants: “He’s just getting back in training. We probably would’ve put Innes there and Louis onto the wing, Innes has played a lot more at Super League level at centre.”

Instead, Watson chose to play second-row Jones at centre believing his experience and defensive capabilities would help nullify Warrington’s left edge threat: “Because I’ve known Jonesy for a long period of time, I really trust him and we thought George Williams was going to be on that edge as well and that was probably going to be their dominant edge with Dufty coming in and Jake Wardle playing really well over there, so we thought we’d put Jonesy up against them and we knew what he does defensively.”