“It’s very raw” – Huddersfield Giants’ boss reveals talks with Fenton Rogers following arrest

Huddersfield Giants were rocked last week when it was confirmed by the police and later the club that young forward Fenton Rogers had been charged with drink driving and Ian Watson has now spoken on the matter.

Watson had provided an update on the players who didn’t travel for the sides’ victory over London Broncos, namely Jake Connor, Matty English and the suspended Fenton Rogers.

News of Rogers’ arrest broke at the start of the Bank Holiday weekend with the 20-year-old detained by police for questioning before the club then confirmed his arrest and that he had been suspended via a statement,

A further update from Oldham police revealed that the incident in question saw Rogers arrested for drink-driving and the assault of an emergency worker, something that he will face court for in May.

Following Huddersfield Giants’ victory over London Broncos, head coach Ian Watson was asked about those who didn’t travel and he revealed the brief conversations that he had had with Rogers.

Speaking post-game on the Giants’ YouTube channel, Watson explained: “Obviously everyone knows about the news of what happened with Fenton at the weekend. So we’ve travelled down here with 19, which is unfortunate but it’s something that he’s going to have to learn from.

“The club have made the statement, Fenton will have to learn from it and he’s got to deal with the consequences that come from there now, so I think it’s best left with the club and with Fenton now.

“I’ve spoken to Fenton, I know what he’s feeling, I know he’s remorseful in that, but let the club go through their process, let the police do what they’re doing and go from there.

“I think after that then you can probably talk about it but at the moment it’s very raw for obviously a young lad in his position so hopefully we can get that sorted out and we can move forward.”

What injuries do Huddersfield Giants have?

As referenced, Watson had explained that Huddersfield Giants only travelled with 19 players to the capital at the weekend with Rogers not being the only player to pull out of the squad.

Among the shock absentees was full-back Jake Connor and Watson has revealed why the ex-Hull FC man didn’t feature.

“Watson confirmed: Yeah, we’ve had a few boys not travel with us, obviously, who were named in the squad. Jake Connor tried to run the other day, but he was a little bit too tired, and we thought the travel, sleeping in a bed that he doesn’t normally sleep in, and then playing at London, wasn’t the right thing.

“We didn’t want to risk losing him long-term so we took the decision basically out of Jake’s hands because he’d probably tell you that he probably could have played, so fingers crossed we’ve done the right thing and he should be hopefully okay now for next week.”

Another who didn’t feature despite having been named in the initial 21-man squad was forward Matty English and Watson revealed that his absence was yet another precautionary measure, suggesting the Giants remain in good nick health-wise.

He said: “Matty English was another one who came out of the squad due to a tight hamstring, he came off in the last few minutes there. I think he’ll be fine going forward. Like I say, you’re trying to put out fires to try and make things don’t go as long because if you look at what happened to us last year when we lost a lot of players for long periods of time, we don’t want that happening to us again.”