Huddersfield Giants’ 2020 campaign was something of a metaphor for the times in which it took place. In the midst of an unprecedented pandemic there was turmoil, change, upheaval, brief hope and optimism but overall the recurring theme was disappointment.
The Giants won seven and lost 11 of their 18 Super League fixtures last term, leaving them an underwhelming seventh in the overall win percentage-based standings. Even the expansion of the playoff series to six teams wasn’t enough to spare them from missing out on the end of season knockout festivities. The Giants have not been involved in a playoff series since 2015, travelling almost exclusively in a backwards direction ever since the zenith of their 2013 League Leaders Shield triumph. These Giants are not so much sleeping as positively narcoleptic.
In mid-September, just after he had finished explaining to the press that he wanted to commit his future to Huddersfield, it was announced that Head Coach Simon Woolford would leave the club at the end of 2020. A couple of days later he was gone with immediate effect. His departure was sudden but could hardly be described as a shock. The decision not to renew the former Canberra Raider’s contract came on the back of a five-game losing streak. It started with a barely credible capitulation against Leeds on the weekend of the restart and took in defeats to Saints, Warrington, Hull FC and Leeds again before the players saw another win bonus. They beat troubled, knee-dodgers Wakefield the day after Woolford’s exit.
Former halfback Luke Robinson had been learning the coaching trade on Woolford’s staff and was handed an opportunity to stake a claim to be the leading man. Initially he seemed to be grasping it with wins over Castleford and Hull KR following that Wakefield success. But another losing run was just around the corner. As the regular season unravelled and ended in a degree of farce the Giants imploded also, losing five straight to Salford, Hull FC, Wakefield, Warrington and Wigan. It was a run which extinguished the Giants’ brief revival and arguably put paid to Robinson’s hopes of securing the top job permanently.
Instead the club’s hierarchy have made what looks like a shrewd appointment in Ian Watson. The ex-Welsh international halfback is now a tried and tested Super League coach. He has presided over Salford’s best spell in the summer era and for many years before that. He guided the Red Devils to the 2019 Grand Final against all expectations and followed that up by taking a squad which had been picked clean by its rivals on the back of that success to the 2020 Challenge Cup final at Wembley. It was Salford’s first visit to the national stadium in 51 years. If you want to look for negatives you could point out that Salford lost on both of those occasions. But just to be mixing it with Saints at Old Trafford in 2019 and Leeds in the capital last year is a monumental achievement. Huddersfield will be hoping that some of the Watson magic which helped turn Salford’s perennial strugglers into trophy contenders will rub off on them. And Robinson will still be around as an assistant. There should be no shortage of attacking ideas for a team led by those two former midfield schemers.
Watson has brought a couple of his old charges with him to West Yorkshire. Josh Jones arrives after a torrid single season at Hull FC that was largely ruined by Covid, while Luke Yates is another ex-Red Devil. The headline signings are former Toronto centre Ricky Leutele - an NRL Grand Final winner with Cronulla Sharks in 2016 who made one appearance in 2020 for eventual champions Melbourne Storm - and halfback Jack Cogger. The latter endured a struggle with Canterbury Bulldogs last term but at just 23 is coming to England as he nears his peak. He may see the move as a shop window for another crack at the NRL down the line but if he can find some form for a year or two alongside the brilliant Aidan Sezer and with Lee Gaskell also on deck creativity should not be an issue for Watson’s men.
Jack Ashworth gets an opportunity to relaunch a career that has stalled at Saints in recent years. If Watson can get the best out of him - and why wouldn’t he given his track record at Salford - Ashworth could yet prove to be a quality addition. For inspiration he should look to what Gil Dudson did at Salford under Watson. Discarded by Wigan and seemingly plodding towards obscurity with Widnes, Dudson enjoyed a resurgence to become an integral parr of Salford’s successes and has since earned a move to the South of France with Catalans Dragons. Another former Saint - Joe Greenwood - should be thinking along similar lines. He has joined from Wigan after failing to establish himself there or at Leeds or Gold Coast Titans following a promising start to his career at Saints.
Recruits were necessary in the pack after longtime stalwart Ukuma Ta’ai was released and Suaia Matagi joined Castleford Tigers on loan. Utility man and another well known to Saints fans - Jordan Turner - is another heading for Castleford as Watson goes about shaping his squad. Turner’s versatility, as well as that of Aaron Murphy who joins Bradford Bulls, could be missed unless Watson can find the right balance.
One thing that Watson will have at his disposal which hasn’t always been the case during his time at the AJ Bell Stadium is a promising crop of youngsters to call on. Darnell McIntosh and Jacob Wardle are two exciting prospects in the back division. Both are products of the club’s youth system and at 23 and 22 years old respectively should be about to enter the best years of their careers. Wardle’s potential centre partnership with Leutele looks particularly promising while McIntosh already has 88 first team appearances under his belt. He can operate at full back or on the wing and could become one of the stars of the league in the next few years. Up front Matty English is another good local product with a big future seemingly ahead of him.
That smattering of youth could really blossom when mixed with established pros like England winger Jermaine McGillvary, Leutele, Gaskell, Jones, hooker Adam O’Brien, second row Kenny Edwards and perhaps most importantly Sezer. The former Canberra man was a top performer in his first season in England despite the team’s struggles. He’s the sort of player you want to pay to see. A real throwback to how the halfback position used to be played. An on-field general with a supreme kicking game who has the passing game to make other players better too. Watson is undoubtedly the Giants’ key recruit but the potential importance of Sezer should not be understated.
The Giants will kick off their 2021 campaign with a clash with another of 2020’s underachievers Hull FC at Leeds on March 28. The black and whites also have a new coach in the shape of former Giants and Warrington full back Brett Hodgson. He’ll be desperate to put one over on his old side but he, like all the other coaches in the top flight, should find Huddersfield under Watson are a more formidable obstacle.
As things stand it would take a serious improvement to elevate Huddersfield into a playoff place. What their fans should be looking for more than anything is evidence of steady improvement, where five and six-game winless runs are a thing of the past. I’m confident they’ll get it, with a top six finish not out of the question and who knows...maybe a good run in the cup?
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