Last night Jake Connor came off the bench to make his second Huddersfield Giants debut.
Connor started his career at the club before joining Hull FC in 2017. After six seasons at the MKM Stadium, Connor has now returned to the Giants for the 2023 season and coach Ian Watson hopes he will be the difference between being contenders as they were in 2022 and being winners in 2023.
It certainly didn’t take Connor long to get into the thick of the action. He was key in Huddersfield’s second half try but before that he had an altercation with Saints second-row Curtis Sironen.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Terry O’Connor suggested that Sironen was ready to punch Connor:
“He winds people up, Jake Connor is a marked man. Sironen does well, then there is a push in the face, then there is a push.
“He is caught in two minds is Sironen with his arm cocked.”
Meanwhile, Jon Wilkin said Connor is “a master of winding people up”:
“That is a man who has lost his mind, Jake Connor is a master of winding people like Sironen up.”
Connor was ultimately unable to win the game for the Giants and Phil Clarke believed he should have started:
“It’s hard to beat St Helens in a game of rugby league, it is even harder when they’re in front.
“Hence the reason, if he is one of your star players, the maverick star player that we think he is and we think he can unlock this St Helens side, you start him.
“If you think he only has 40 minutes in his legs then get to halftime then bring someone else on.”
