Seniors take first step on international ladder

LOUIS and Innes Senior made their England debuts on Saturday playing for the England Academy against the Australian Schoolboys – and I think it will give them both huge confidence as players.

It’s a proud moment representing your country, and for these boys it’s the first step on the ladder to becoming full internationals.

They’re playing Super League already with the Giants.

I was fortunate enough to play for the England Academy on a tour of Australia and New Zealand under Mike Gregory some years ago. I was playing with some very talented players – Danny Maguire, Rob Burrow, Ade Gardener. They made that step up to play in Super League and to play at international level, becoming big game players for their sides.

Hopefully Louis and Innes can follow in those footsteps and achieve what I was lucky enough to achieve.

There’s a simple reason why I think they can do that – they beat the Schoolboys, we didn’t, and we managed to do okay for ourselves!

But we’re all very proud of these Huddersfield lads representing their country and representing the Giants.

I think it’s a sign the club, especially the Academy level, are moving in the right direction.

A lot of the credit needs to go to Andy Kelly, Luke Robinson and Steve Hardisty.

The scouts we have involved and the camps we put on are excellent, I’ve been lucky enough to go down and see the scholarship boys and take part in some of the coaching and what they’re doing is unbelievable.

Last year was the first year we reached the semi-finals with the academy side and the kids coming through now are animals! They are fitter, more skilful and bigger and we need to reinvest in these youngsters coming through.

It’s funny how things have come back round with my relationship with the Academy – when I was in the Academy, Brian Blacker was my coach and now working in a different role, as a club ambassador, I work with Brian within the commercial team.

My job is engaging not only with the fans and the coaching staff, but also with sponsors.

Because of how the game is, we need to be continually bringing on new sponsors and partners on board to support the running of the club.

Something I’ve really been excited by is the Giants Business Club. We’ve revamped it for 2019 and it’s the easiest way for a business to get involved with the club.

We provide a unique networking experience for local businesses with access to hospitality, exposure and a chance to meet like-minded local firms for a minimal price of £200 plus VAT. In one of our hospitality boxes, Box 26, we host up to 20 partners of the Business Club and they get a great night of networking and entertainment as part of the deal.

It’s massively important for us to get businesses involved and for the businesses to work with each other. We’re a family club and we want to extend the Giants family – in rugby league you’re always looking after the man next to you and helping your team-mates.

We want to extend that ethos to our relationships with our businesses and we want our businesses to extend that ethos to each other, and that’s really what the Business Club is all about.

In 2019, we’re also seeing some rule changes in the sport and it’s going to speed the game up a lot.

It’s not going to be a game for people as big as me – I’m almost glad I’ve retired!

The reduction in interchanges is going to change the requirements for forwards and require them to do more minutes and put more graft in.

I personally don’t mind a draw, so I don’t quite agree with the introduction of the Golden Point, but I think it will lead to some interesting tactical battles.

Most fans would expect the game to be a drop-goal battle, but I don’t expect that to be the case.

Sides are going to try to play for good position and almost play a game of chicken in extra time and that will be interesting for the supporter.

It will add more drama to the games and fans always love the sight of a lastminute win.