Huddersfield Giants are out to spoil the party for play-off hopefuls Wakefield Trinity with Luke Robinson putting the pressure on Saturday’s opponents.
The Huddersfield head coach has underlined the amount of pressure on Trinity, comparing their position to that of the Giants’ last opponents, Warrington.
Speaking in his presser on Friday, Robinson said: “There’s a lot of pressure on them because they’ve been in and around that six for a long time and with that pressure, they’ve got to win games. Like Warrington last week, where it was do or die for them, it’s similar for Wakefield and the pressure is on them.
“We want to ruin the party and knock off as many scalps for the end of the season to build some momentum for next year.”
Huddersfield have put a decent run together to end the season with last week’s impressive comeback victory over Warrington Wolves their fifth win in nine games, an impressive upturn given they won just once in their opening 14 matches.
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One of the reasons for their success is that injuries have started to subside somewhat though the position they’re still plagued in is half-back with Tui Lolohea, Adam Clune and also full-back Niall Evalds all out.
Loanee Oliver Russell came in to steady the ship last week but he’s unable to face parent club Wakefield and Robinson conceded that will mean changes.
He explained: “Oliver Russell played really well and justified why we brought him back but it’s his parent club that we’re going up against so there are stipulations that he can’t play against them. There will be a little bit of a change and a different half-back partnership again but we’ll make a decision today.”
One man who could step up is teenager Marshall Land with the academy product possibly set for a debut, something Robinson labelled as a “realistic possibility” as he hailed the fact the club have been able to hand out five debuts in their “turbulent” year.
Robinson said: “Marshall has played really really well for the academy this year and we’ve got high expectations of him. He’s a player that we’ll bring into the first team squad next year anyway so in some aspects, it’ll be nice for him to have a run.
“He’s an old-school running six more than anything else. He’s got a really big frame so when he puts some weight on and matures, and I don’t want to make comparisons, but when he fills out he’ll have a Trent Barrett sort of look.
“He’s not at this moment in time big, he’s still lean, but he’s more of a running threat than a controlling half-back at this moment in time.”
No decision has been made on whether the youngster, who was named to the 21-man squad last week as well, will play as Robinson noted his other options.
He explained: “I’ve also got to make decisions that are best for us and how we win the game. We still want to finish the season strong. We’ve got conversations to be had and loads of different options.
“Gags (Jacob Gagai) has played half this year, George (Flanagan Jr) has played half this year, Kez (Kieran Rush) has played there and hooker so there’s options.”
