Ian Watson on Huddersfield Giants’ salary cap and “world class” Jake Connor’s position and partnerships after Hull FC move

Yes there’s plenty of talk about Leigh Leopard’s recruitment for 2023, but Huddersfield Giants have also impressed with the signings they’ve made so much so fans are flummoxed at how coach Ian Watson could fit them all into his side.

This comes especially after the arrival of former Hull FC star Jake Connor. Capable of playing in the halves, fullback or centre, Watson answered the question of where he will play for the Giants next year without answering it when speaking to Giants TV.

But he did identify the partnership he wants to create: “At the moment, the thing we’ll play is the interlink between him and Tui which will give us a different point of attack.

“We talk about wanting to improve our attack but we had the fourth best attack in the comp last year, but we want to be the best.

“You look at the play-off game, we didn’t manage to score. We need to make sure when we play in those big games we have people who can do something off the cuff that can turn the tide in our favour.

“Jake Connor has got that, Tui has got that. The more of players we have like them, the better chance we will have of opening up the best defences.”

Meanwhile, he also further explained why there has been so many signings and praised the club for their management of the salary cap: “You see teams fly out of the gate but then they get a few injuries and aren’t able to build on that. So, we wanted to guard against that so we’ve balanced the salary cap to make sure we have a quality squad and a quality side.”

Connor is of course injured right now, but Watson is backing his medical staff to get him fit and firing saying he can be world class:

“Jake Connor has a bit of an injury. That is not a risk for me, we have a very good medical team which will make sure he gets fully fit and firing. He can be world class.