Ian Watson says Super League crowds could grow if the sport does this with World Club Challenge win

Ian Watson was adamant that Huddersfield Giants needed to play this weekend as fears rose that their game against Wakefield Trinity could be cancelled due to Wakefield’s pitch.

Watson was so adamant because the Giants already missed Round One because opponents St Helens were contesting the World Club Challenge.

On this Watson said: “We can’t do anything about that, it was the right thing to do to let Saints have that week off to let them do what they were doing as well. You can’t stop what they were going to face, it was great for the game for them to go and win the competition and showcase what Super League is all about and that there is better talent over here that can compete in the NRL.”

Watson’s Giants are seen as contenders for the Super League title and he was asked whether he would be interested in the World Club Challenge if they won the Grand Final:

“You’d love to, you’ve love nothing more than going in a World Club Challenge with Huddersfield. That’s in the future, we’ve got to focus on the week to week.

“What St Helens have done is incredible and they’re earned it.”

Watson ultimately believes Saints’ win could be used to grow attendances:

“I think the big thing is that it got everyone talking about the Super League competition. We’ve now got a team who are World Club Champions, there’s not many teams in England who can say that and we’ve got it as a sport now. It’s really shone alight on the Super League and it’s about making sure we capitalise on that now as an organisation and as individual teams to really promote the game.

“A lot of people will have seen that game and maybe seen it for the first time and the more who come to watch rugby league the more will fall in love. The product is a great product, we don’t need to mess about with what’s on the field too much. It’s the promotion and the publicity in and around everything else on the outside that we need to create like role models out of our players promote the clubs and show everyone what we’re about as a sporting organisation.”