‘Giants squad the strongest I’ve had’
BOSS WATSON HAILS TEAM AHEAD OF DRAGONS CHALLENGE
IAN Watson believes the Huddersfield Giants squad he has named for tonight’s Betfred Super League clash against the Catalans Dragons is the strongest he has had all season.
The Claret and Gold face their topfour rivals at the John Smith’s Stadium boosted by the returns of Theo Fages and Jack Cogger, who have both been out injured.
The Giants head coach believes both could play against the Dragons, who sit just two points above Huddersfield – and that there return shows just how strong his squad is now as they look to become a playoff team.
“Theo is a little bit behind Jack in terms of recovery, we are just trying to tick a few boxes to make sure he is ready,” said Watson. “But he has declared himself fit and available and it would be good for him to get a bit of a run.
“There is a big chance of Theo and Jack both playing.
“Jack hasn’t played for a while now and has been chomping at the bit. All pre-season he trained really hard. He was really good competition against Tui (Lolohea), Theo, Ollie (Russell), Will Pryce as well. And when he was partnering up with them he was putting best foot forward and he looked really good in pre-season.
“I am expecting him to come out firing on Friday.
“It is looking really positive for us. On the back of the win against Barrow last week, having rested some of the bodies, we have come out pretty healthy.”
Josh Jones is also in the 21-man party having been given the all-clear by the medics after he suffered blurred vision.
“He has seen four or five different specialists and they have concluded he is fit again to take his place in the squad,” said Watson.
“They have done a lot of investigations and had a good look in and around everything – his eyes, his brain – the one big thing is Josh is feeling really good, he’s had no ill effects, he has been in full contact training now for the last couple of weeks.
“He looks fit and healthy now and the doctors have said he is good to go, so we will go with them.”
It all leads to Watson having to make some difficult calls in terms of team selection, but that’s exactly how he likes it.
He said: “You would rather have tough decisions to make on your team. I think this is the strongest squad we have named this season, and it probably tells you that by the quality of the players we have left out. Some players who performed really well last week or in recent weeks have missed out. It looks good for us going forward, we wanted a strong squad, we want competition for places and we have got that.”
And Watson warned following defeat to Hull in their last Super League match, that if the Giants want to achieve their aim of being in the play-off places, games like tonight’s are a must-win.
He said: “If we want to be that top team, sitting in the top four, we need to beat these teams around us, especially at home.
“We need to make sure it is uncomfortable for them to come to us.
“Catalans have some big middles and skilful players on the back of that if you look at their spine and they have Sam Tomkins out the back who is someone we all need to be aware of. He is a top player.
“We want to be one of the better teams in this league. We don’t want to be backing up losses in Super League. So it is important we come out firing.”