Ian Watson says people get these two things about Jake Connor very wrong

Jake Connor is one of the biggest and most talked about stars in Super League.

But his coach Ian Watson has suggested people get two things very wrong about the Huddersfield Giants star.

The first is the kind of player he is.

Watson said: “Everyone talks about Jake being really expansive but the one thing he’s brought to us in the last few weeks has been his control.

“If you look at him, and Tui has been the same to be honest, they both know they’ve got an understanding as experienced players to help control the team. If they go off playing their own games then that won’t help, they’re doing the hob for the team.

“You look at the way our kicking game was last week and our game management against Catalans, you wouldn’t have thought that we were missing somebody like Theo or Oliver Russell. I thought we were by far the best in that area last week and that was thanks to Jake and Tui.

“You look over to the Salford game and I thought we controlled that game as well, the same situation happened in that game as well in terms of the spine players with Prycey going off and Jake coming on.

“I thought Jake kicked really well in that game as well. He’s shown a different side to him and that’s why for me he’s a top end international player.

“Obviously he’s not been named in the squad but he’s a top end international player who can cause international teams problems. The big thing for us is that what he’s doing here is playing to the teams strengths and allowing himself to fall on the back of that.

“When he jumps out of the system all the boys are reacting to him and if it works it works, if it doesn’t then he jumps straight back into the system.

“That’s a real good strength of a player to have the ability to play in a system but also be able to play outside it as well.”

Meanwhile, when asked about the belief that he is perhaps hard to handle for coaches, Watson said:

“He’s been brilliant, he’s been perfect for our environment. How I found it was that we’ve sat down with him and shown him certain things which we think will be a benefit to him and the team, and he’s gone out and done them.

“He reminds me a little bit, I’m trying to find someone to compare him to, he’s different in his own way but he’s very receptive to things and he then goes out and does it straight away in practice.

“That’s not normally what even the best players can do. I had Todd Carney at Salford and he was one of them where if you showed them something and asked them to do it, they’d go out and do it and try it. If they didn’t feel it worked they’d come back and say ‘would this be better?’

“That’s when you get that communication with a player. He’s been doing that, going out and doing what we’ve asked him to do and running what the team need.

“I’ve found him far from difficult. He isn’t difficult at all, he’s a great kid.