Huddersfield Giants could have two key men return this weekend as the club bid to extend their impressive record at Super League Magic Weekend.
Despite their poor form this season and in recent years, Huddersfield historically boast the best record at Magic Weekend and new head coach Jim Lenihan is aiming to continue that.
When asked about that fact at Monday’s media event, he responded: “We don’t want to put the mockers on us. I wouldn’t have known until someone told me, so hopefully we can find a win shortly.”
Last week’s loss to Wakefield marked the closest that Huddersfield have come to a win under Lenihan with the scores level with just seconds to go before Josh Rourke intercepted Olly Russell’s pass to hand a devastating defeat to the Giants.
On that defeat, he admitted: “I think we’re a club that’s trying to find identity and I think if we want to become a tougher football team, we’ve got to find some adversity to work through. We put ourselves in a good position to win the game and then we lost it at the very death, so it’s just another scar that we’ll get over.
“Whether we won yesterday or lost yesterday, won by 20 points, lost by 20 points, the direction’s clear on what we’re trying to achieve and where we’re going. It would have been really lovely to win yesterday, it would be really lovely to win this weekend, but there’s certain things we’re chasing in our game to build what we want to build in the future.”
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Huddersfield Giants boss on first Magic Weekend in charge
Whilst it’s Lenihan’s first Magic Weekend in Super League, he’s well versed in the concept after the NRL adopted it.
“Very excited about it. Obviously been watching it afar from overseas for a long time,” he admitted.
“It’s obviously so good that we’ve copied it in the NRL, so no, really looking forward to it… It’s a great event over there in Australia, and obviously the origins of it being here, it’s obviously a great weekend and a great spectacle for the game, so it’s really exciting to be a part of it.”
For Huddersfield, Magic presents a unique challenge as they’re tasked with opening the event up and that means a 12.30 kick-off, something that the Giants have not done yet this season and something that is almost exclusively reserved for Magic Weekend in Super League.
On the challenge that presents, Lenihan admitted: “I think it’s logistically a little bit different starting so early, because the boys will have to get up and they’re pretty much into the game straight away, so they’re not usually playing that sort of time frame most weeks.
“A little bit of planning goes into it, obviously looking forward to the game and then being at a big stage like that will be great.”
As for who could feature, he confirmed that Connor Wrench, who was named in the 21-man squad, may be available as Tom Burgess’ absence was confirmed to be a result of sickness.
