WE’LL GIVE ’EM WAT FOUR
IAN WATSON is adamant his top-four prediction wasn’t just new arrival bullishness at Hudderfield.
Watson caused raised eyebrows when he made his shock move to the Giants in November, claiming “everything screams top four” about the club.
Huddersfield have rarely been in the shake-up for Super League’s endof-season honours and usually find themselves hacking it with the lowerend clubs.
So for them, rather than a top club, to lure the coach away from Salford caused uproar amongst the loyal Red Devils fans.
But Watson, who led Salford to a sensational Grand Final and Challenge Cup FInal double in the last two years, is convinced Huddersfield are on the brink of something great.
He said: “You look at the top clubs and they all have a really good base in terms of a youth system and they are renowned for bringing young players through.
“In the last couple of years at Salford we got to two finals but how do you sustain that?
“The big clubs have young kids who are used to training with Super League players day in day out so they are at that level when they break into the first team.
“At Huddersfield there is already a good youth system and I feel I can make those young players better.
“I don’t know how it worked before or whether the players recruited were the right role models for younger players to follow. But the players we’ve recruited now will all bring these young players on.”
Watson refuses to be drawn on some of the bad reaction to his surprise Salford departure but said: “I was always proud to be Salford’s head coach and I enjoyed my time there.”