Watto: Saints the perfect test for us! GIANTS V ST HELENS
finish near the top of the table on a regular basis.
“We want to build a team that will be consistently competing at the top end of the table,” he added.
“We’ve got to go through a little bit of pain at the moment in educating players how you get there.
“But the players are more than willing.
“You can see in the second half of games when they apply themselves in the right manner, their a very good defensive unit.”
He cited tonight’s opponents as an example of the sustained high performance he wanted his squad to match as they come up against the back-to-back champions.
“Saints are Saints,” Watson said “They’re a consistent group and it’s what we want to build here at Huddersfield.
“You want to build a team that can go forward and be a genuine top-four team and then be sustained by the young players coming through.
“They’re used to playing big games and they always start with a defensive mentality and then build off the back of that.
“We need to be that from minute one, like St Helens are.”
Despite naming an unchanged squad for the match, Watson confirmed the matchday 17 would not be the same due to injuries.
GIANTS coach Ian Watson will be without Jake Wardle and Leroy Cudjoe through injury despite them being named in the 21-man squad. Captain Aidan Sezer made his first appearance of the season against the Robins following a hamstring injury and is set to be involved again.
St Helens will be without winger Tom Makinson because of a minor foot injury but Sione Mata’utia returns after completing concussion protocols. Fellow forwards Matty Lees and Morgan Knowles remain sidelined so Dan Norman and Tom Nisbet both come into contention, alongside Jake Wingfield.
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Two centres, Jake Wardle and Leroy Cudjoe, will both be unavailable and while explaining it was frustrating not having his entire first-team squad available, Watson said it was a good opportunity for players like youngster Sam Wood to continue to impress.
“We’ve not had our full squad yet for a game,” Watson said.
“We’d like to get our full-strength
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GIANTS SQUAD: team out there and really see what we could do as a group.
“Two centres being out doesn’t help but young Sam Wood will move into the centre for us.
“He’s played centre plenty of times before so he knows it, but it’s great experience for him to go up against St Helens and see what he can do.”