Giants are ready for final physical battle

HUDDERSFIELD Giants’ walking wounded are set to return for their final match of the campaign against Catalans Dragons on Saturday.

And it has come at the perfect time, with head coach Simon Woolford admitting the French side will provide a physical challenge at the Stade Gilbert Brutus.

The Giants have seen their season peter out in recent weeks as the toil of a long season finally caught up with them.

Woolford admitted after last week’s defeat against Wigan Warriors that his troops were tired and that the end of the season couldn’t come soon enough.

But the side will be refreshed by the return of several players on Saturday, including wing Jermaine McGillvary and centre Leroy Cudjoe.

“Hopefully we will have a couple of players back for the last game,” said Woolford.

“We will get a better indication in the next few days.

“Jermaine McGillvary will be back, Leroy Cudjoe and Dale Fergsuon, and were are hopeful on Aaron Murphy.

“Young Louis Senior got through the academy game unscathed from his ankle injury, so he is available too. We will be able to field a competitive side, and we want to finish off the season with a win.”

And Woolford admits the Giants will need all the physicality they can get as they take on the Challenge Cup winners.

“They have big powerful forwards who run hard and like to off-load the footie,” he said of the French side.

“They are very aggressive defensively. Josh Drinkwater has a fantastic kicking game, they have threats all around the field.

“We need to be sound defensively, that’s for sure.

“It would be nice to sign off in style with a win. The last few weeks have been challenging, but it has been a good few months for us.” Woolford already has an eye on next season, experimenting with some positioning during the defeat to the Warriors – including playing Lee Gaskill at full-back. And it is something he is set to continue with on Saturday. “I though Gaskill was good at full-back, we have had some issues there especially with our goal-line defence in previous weeks,” said Woolford. “He seemed to handle it physically quite well too and looks really comfortable there, so we will go with that again this week and see how it goes.”

They have big powerful forwards who run hard and like to off-load the footie