No Stone unturned
JULIE STOTT
Instead, coach Rick Stone says he now has a side who are willing to fight for him – and each other.
And the Aussie – who looked to be hanging on by a thread earlier this season – is convinced the new attitude will take them far.
He said: “It has taken a long time and I have been in some dark places at certain stages.
“There were plenty of times where we did not know what team was going to get off the bus and what we were going to get.
“But over the last eight to 10 weeks we have seen some good positive momentum and we’re heading in the right direction.”
Stone looked like a dead man walking in April after eight games without a win left his side down in 11th.
A week later they crashed out of the Challeng e Cup t o l owly par t - t i m e Championship side Swinton.
Stone, who fielded a weakened team that day, said: “I know a lot of people thought it was a tragedy but it wasn’t as far as I was concerned.
“It was embarrassing and I was gutted, as the players were. But it was not the be all and end all.”
Stone (below) insisted the players had to start believing in him.
And, with the club backing him, the squad f inally appeared to buy into his ideas.
Since that humiliation in the cup, Giants have picked up 11 points from a possible 16 to move up to seventh in the table.
Today t hey t ravel to high-flying Salford, knowing a win would edge them closer to finalising a top-eight spot.
Stone said: “We’ve started organising our errors, minimising leaking soft tries. We’ve controlled the ball a little bit better and we are kicking and chasing better. “That’s all we have done. “We have not done anything super flashy but all of a sudden the boys are realising it is a pretty simple format.
“They know they can do that every week and if they keep doing it we will give ourselves every chance.
“Our form and success is a direct relation to the effort that has gone in from the 17 players.
“There have been some significant advances in the effort the boys put in.”
Stone believes they still need to improve their game management to see off opponents and wants to witness that against Salford.
He added: “They are a big test for us. They’ve been playing consistently all year and they have a number of quality players like Michael Dobson and Todd Carney.
“They started off the year with everyone thinking they were the surprise package but they haven’t stopped.
“They are a formidable team and it will be another good challenge for us.
“We have got the effort part right, now we need to manage games better.”
Stone looks likely to give a debut to former Hull utility back Jordan Rankin, who will plug the gap caused by injury to free-scoring full-back Jake Mamo.