Ian Watson intriguingly compares ex-Wigan Warriors man to Castleford Tigers star after Huddersfield Giants switch

Huddersfield Giants, like last year and the year before, could claim to have had the best recruitment going into 2023.

They have signed Harry Sunderland Award winner Kevin Naiqama, NRL centre Esan Marsters, two-time Grand Final try scorer Jake Bibby, the excellent Jake Connor and more.

Amongst there signings are two men well and truly built for the future in the shape of Jack Bibby and Sam Halsall whom they got from Wigan as part of the deal which saw Jake Wardle go to the Warriors.

Ian Watson though, speaking to Giants TV, is just as excited about them as the big names comparing Halsall to one of his former players: “Sam is really exciting. He reminds me a little bit of Niall Evalds. He just turns up and scores tries. It’s a good trait to kind of have.

“If you look at his record at Newcastle but also at Wigan, he was scoring tries against us here twice. He has an ability to score tries.

“What I really like is I spoke to a few players at Wigan about him and they just spoke about how hard he works, his fitness levels. He competes really hard.

“They were all talking about him being the next left centre at Wigan.”

Meanwhile, he had huge praise for young Bibby too; “Jack Bibby is another international player. He’s captained Wigan in the academies as well, he is a no nonsense front rower. I liked him when I say him against the reserves. He more or less tried to take on our entire pack.”