In-form Huddersfield ‘gutted’ season is finished
Ian Watson, the Huddersfield head coach, is confident his team will be a stronger force in Super League next year thanks to a change in mentality that has contributed to their end-ofseason flourish.
An eight-try win over relegated Leigh was their sixth victory in their final 10 matches. Louis Senior scored two tries and Olly Russell contributed 14 points.
“I am gutted we are finishing, it feels like we have only just started,” Watson said after a ninth-placed finish. “It was too individual at the beginning of the year. I have always built teams on team-first mentality.
“We wanted to win as many games as we could at the back end of the season. We had gone back into a rebuild with everything that has happened in this year.
“We have a 60 per cent win ratio over the last 10 matches. Had we done that from the start of the season, we would be looking forward to play-off football.
“That’s the lesson for us. But what happened to this club this year needed to happen. It will put the club in a stronger position, with the amount of young guys playing.”
Leigh were relegated from Super League for the third time in their history. Kurt Haggerty, the interim head coach, oversaw their only two wins but remains unsure if he will still be at the club next season.
“I would like to think I have brought a style of rugby that is attractive to watch and positivity to a difficult situation,” he said.
Asked if he knew where his own future lay, he added: “Not as yet, but I understand the situation. Whatever decision the club make, it has got to be the right one.
“I know the club want to rebuild and be competitive and get back in Super League. I have affection for Leigh and care about the club. I want to see them do well and be successful.”
On this defeat, in which Leigh scored five tries and twice led in the opening period, Haggerty said: “It was a familiar script. We turned the ball over in really dumb errors and couldn’t recover from it. We can’t stop teams once they get on a roll.”