Jermaine McGillvary unhappy with “sh*t” Huddersfield Giants exit

Ash Handley at Leeds Rhinos, Liam Marshall at Wigan Warriors, Matty Ashton at Warrington Wolves, Ryan Hall at Hull KR and Josh Charnley at Leigh Leopards; Super League is full of great wingers.

One of these is of course Jermaine McGillvary at Huddersfield Giants.

The former England winger was perhaps the best winger in the league from 2015-17 as he finished the 2015 season as the league’s top scorer whilst in 2017 he was outstanding the World Cup.

But now his future is in doubt after not being awarded a new deal by Huddersfield.

McGillvary has now opened up on his exit: “I kept on asking Watto (Ian Watson) throughout the months, he said he’s not decided yet; then it was the welfare manager, he said ‘are you retiring at the end of the season?’

“I went, ‘no’, then he said ‘well I’ve just been told you’re retiring, we’re releasing something at presentation’ and I went, ‘no’. He then said, ‘I’ve been told it’s not decided yet’, then I said ‘what, you what?’ and he said everyone’s saying that I’m retiring.

“So he’s rang up Watto, then Watto’s rung me and said there’s nothing for me and he’s gonna go with a younger backline next season; so that was the first time someone’s officially told me, before presentation because they were actually going to release that I was retiring before they actually officially to me.

“I kind of got the drift, no one actually spoke to me until what I did on Monday when he rang me; but obviously as time’s gone on, like May, June, July, you’re thinking, oh you’re not being offered, obviously someone’s not right; but I mean, no one actually sat me down, well, they didn’t sat me down at all they rang me on the phone, but no one’s actually talked before that point. No one actually told me.”

McGillvary also spoke about declining moves in the past: “I’ve had a couple of opportunities to move to either side of the Pennines to different clubs, and I’m looking back now the way things have gone I’m like ‘should I have done it?’

“The Australian thing, that was a possibility, but the main thing I stayed over here is because it probably been a two-year deal I think I was like 28, 29 at the time and my eldest son was obviously at Manchester City and doing well, so that was my biggest concern because obviously football’s not a big deal out there and I didn’t want him to fall behind. I think looking back now I’ve made the right decision in that way because obviously he’s doing well, but I reckon if I look back now with everything out, everything’s gone and how things have been dealt with, I would do with it a little bit, not taking an opportunity when I was a little bit younger.”

The winger is not happy about his exit: “It’s my hometown club, I live here, I still live here, I grew up here as a player, became the player I was here. It has a little bit of a sour taste how it’s ended, but that’s Rugby and it is what it is I suppose.

“It’s just disappointing that it’s ended this way, but I understand at my age as well you have to go down a different direction at some point, but I was expecting maybe I’d get a deal or sat down somewhere in the office and get ‘thank you for your time, shake my hand, you’ve doing well, you’ve helped the club, off you go’, but it was on a phone call, for 16 years of my life dedicated to Huddersfield, to be told on a phone call before presentation and only because the club was going to release that I was potentially retiring.

“It’s a bit shit, it’s quite embarrassing really having to tell my family how I found out. It’s just not nice, over the phone.”