Huddersfield Giants - claretandgold.co.uk • Re: 2016 pre season

Sorry, but must disagree. There’s no way that squad, in normal circumstances, should have struggled in Superleague. It’s a comfortably top four squad.

There were two things that happened

The first you identify correctly. It happened, and maybe it could have been dealt with better. It brings to mind one thing I remember Alex Ferguson saying when asked if he had one piece of simple advice to share about team building - “Get rid of the cnuts”.

The second is different. The club had had three or four good seasons - in the league we’d been the most consistently successful team over the previous three years (add the tables together and we’d top it). But no trophies. All the talk at the time was whether the club could step up to the next level - and a lot of people were doubtful.

There are very few opportunities in rugby league to step onto a bigger stage, to reach for something magical, to create something big. To go back to Alex Ferguson - he once said that the thing that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end were “the big European nights under the floodlights at Old Trafford”

At the end of 2015 there was the chance to grab some of that. It was there in our grasp, but the club didn’t want to step up.

I still find it difficult to believe that there was a chance to host Huddersfield Giants vs Sydney Roosters and the club didn’t want to do it. More than that, the club were relieved to not step onto that stage - supported by many fans on this site.

The message that sent out to the entire RL world was that we are a small club that lack the balls to step up.

They didnt fight for that match (which was awarded to lower placed St Helens off the back of “commitment to the World Club Series) because it was too expensive.

And how much money has that timid, small minded decision cost now? Far in excess of the £185k the RFL wanted the club to invest.