Watson: Everyone thinks it is dead easy, ‘buy players, put them together and win’

Despite losing their fourth game in a row, Huddersfield head coach Ian Watson has called for calm heads.

The Giants showed major signs of improvement against champions St Helens, rallying in the second half before eventually losing 18-10.

It was a step in the right direction for Watson and his new team and he believes that wins will soon follow as the players develop better combinations.

He said: “Things will turn around. There is always a process to build things and you cannot chase it.

“A lot of people lose their heads and start trying to chase and change things and it is not about that, it is about continuity.

“There are a lot of players in this team who have not played in this team before and you have to build it.

“It is like baby steps basically. A baby does not just get up and start walking with the ball, it is about building foundations, similar to starting a business – you have to build foundations before it is successful.

“With rugby, everyone thinks it is dead easy, that you can come in, buy players, then put them together and automatically win.

“It takes time to meet, understand and know the players and you only truly know that when they are playing.”

Thursday night’s match at the John Smith’s Stadium turned into a much closer contest than many were predicting as Huddersfield became the first team to score more than one try in a league match against St Helens this season.

Speaking on the 18-10 defeat, Watson added: “What we have been talking about and trying to develop is being able to go into a game against the best teams and go toe-to-toe with them, compete and being put under pressure.

“In the first half, we were under massive amounts of pressure defensively but I thought we stood up really well.

“Then to come in at 12-0 we were still confident that the game will turn at some point and once we got field position, we just had to execute and put points on the board.”