Jools, spot on regarding playing style, i've had this debate with people many times and even on this thread,when people say that we don't play exciting stuff, my argument is that maybe we play the way we do because that style suits our strengths, and it's hard for the opposition to defend against, or maybe we play that way in order to negate the opposition in order to put our strengths to the fore.

you can't just expect every RL team to play the same way and just throw the ball around at will, yes it might be exciting but does it win games?

as for the comfort zone thing and sacking people, then i don't get that, as a club we are in a good place,as far as most of us know we are OK financially and the club is run in a fairly good way, we are in a good position in the league with a chance of a shot at the grand final in 7 weeks!
yes the marketing probably leaves a lot to be desired, but then again, we aren't a rich club, so maybe the budget for marketing was spent on players instead in the hope that a successful team will market itself?
at last night's HGSA meeting,Blake Solly, complimented us on being a well run club who have bred a very good "culture" from the top down, which in turn has led us to being where we are, do we want to throw that away for a quick fix and sack people left,right and centre?

Meast, no one is advocating sackings left right and , l am asking questions, things have gone wrong in the past, Questions are being asked about the running of the club today. The NB, Mason, and Kopczak sissues, l my opinion were very badly handled, Brown should have been sacked (Saints fans at that time said McManus would not have stood for that)and as far as the "comfort zone" l think l outlined my views on that quite clearly, but if everyone thinks all is honky dory down there, who am l to argue.

We are a well run club and shouldn't forget that.

Lots of effort and money has gone into the scholarships and academies that should start to bear some fruit in the next year or so.
If you look at the club now as to just 5 year ago we have made giant strides (no pun intended) in this area.

You mentioned earlier that the year we won the LLS the average attendance was the lowest since 2007 and that 'maybe people don't want success after all'.

Well I believe they are desperate for success but that the definition of success is getting to the GF as a minimum.

Can you imagine the interest that would be generated if the Giants appeared in (never mind won) the showcase final in front of 75,000 people?

If we can do that and more importantly do it on a regular basis that must be our best chance of growing attendance figures.

What we don't want is a repeat of the miserable effort in the play-offs of last year (and the year before that?).

That more than anything will put us further back in the quest to raise crowds.

The pressure is on and it will be very interesting how we handle it from now to the season's end.

It all a starts tomorrow......

Some good posts and something to agree with in every one. I must be expecting too much I think. But I would ask one question of people who say they are very happy with where we are.

Would you rather see a game like the Leeds v Saints cup match, where Leeds especially, played some great football to watch, Fast, flowing at times, off loading, desperate defence at times, Or the effort served up by Wakey and the Giants, Endless dropped balls, knock-on's, Penalties and the rest, Both Leeds and the Giants got the win, Leeds playing for a place at Wembley against another very good side, The Giants against bottom of the league , who have won Twice , I know which I would rather watch.

some very good points on all aspects, which is how a forum thread should be.
however i do have to disagree slightly TBC, we have appeared in showcase events, 2 challenge cup finals, and we all said then that it would raise the profile of the club above what it's ever been, added to the fact that we had a long running partnership with the university, which i don't think we profited from enough, how many graduates left the uni as giants fans? suppose we'll never know but i don't think we did enough to get students and employees of the uni interested, maybe others will shed light.

it's all very well dismissing the LLS as not very important, but to our club and everything it's been through it was, in my eyes, a massive thing and something we should be proud of, as a club and as a fanbase, did we push that enough? again, hard to tell but from the outside looking in i don't think we did.

obviously our continuing failure in the play offs aren't helping, and maybe, just maybe, a GF will be the kick start the cup finals, and the LLS weren't

Leeds are on a different level when it comes to attracting players though, they have far more funds to attract top quality players at all levels, we don't, we are building up to having a top class academy for the future,
i see your point but like i said previously we play to our strengths, and if those strengths are not offloading and throwing the ball around then fine, i support Huddersfield, as much as i enjoy watching good games as a neutral, i am happy to support my team, regardless of how they play.

of course, we all want to see us play like leeds and win things in front of 15,000 people every week, but we aren't Leeds, and we really can't compare the 2 clubs .

I agree that the LLS was something to be proud of (especially for those who remember cold wet days at Runcorn, Blackpool etc.) and don't dismiss it lightly.

But in the context of this thread I don't believe a couple of Challenge Cup final appearances and a LLS in 8-9 years is going to significantly influence our attendances.

We've come a long way in the last 15 years through the hard work of many people and that shouldn't be underestimated.

I believe Ken Davy has shifted his investment from marketing (cut price season tickets etc.) to where if should be concentrated and that's in the scholarship / academy and the purpose built facilities behind the textile centre on leeds road.

He's a business man and I think he realises he will get a better return on his investment doing this than pumping more money into marketing campaigns that are never guaranteed to be successful.

What we need now more than anything is to see lads coming through who can be genuine Super League players (the omens are good so far) and to get to the GF.

We've got solid foundations in place and now need that push to the next level.

The signings for next season may take us to another level but the last thing we need right now is a limp end to the season.

At the very least we need to keep our club moving forward and to make sure we retain the core 5,000 - 6,000 fans we currently have.

Excellent posts.

So then meast if we signed for next season, D Mcquire, Burrows, Delainey, JJB, Hablett, Moon, and got rid of our corresponding players, would you be happy or unhappy,

It's not a trick question in any way, I am just Making the point that these are the players who have been winning things for Leeds for quite a few years now, ( and I've seen all of them slagged off for one reason or another) .

You make the point that Leeds have far more funds to attract top quality players than we do, I thought we all spent the same, ( I know all about the sweepers up and the Canteen ladies) But Leeds are not known for being big spenders.

Where they do have a big advantage over us is the young Talent, but we seem to be getting on the right lines with that now.

IMO where the big difference between us and the Leeds Wigan Saints Warrington's is, It's the culture of those clubs is one of winning, ( Warrington are getting there) Their Fans don't turn up Hoping and praying , They turn up expecting the team to either win, or give it a good go, If they lose a final and get 40 points stuck on them, they don't treat it as a stunning achievement, to them it's a loss and better not referred too.
Good as that game was last week, Saints won't want to keep remembering that, they will want to forget Leeds beat them, Because they are interested in winning, they don't celebrate Loosing.
But above all they have built a reputation, as have Wigan and others of playing good open football, all I'm saying is can't we make a start down that road,( We did make that start when Brown first came ) That is what keeps the crowds up, If we can get that sort of thinking into the club, Play good open football the crowds will come (as they were When Brown came ) Because nothing has worked at Huddersfield since the mid sixties as far as I can see.

I take your point that you will support them whatever they play like, and they can win things that way once now and then. But KD continues to keep saying it, ( If we are to go forward we have to get 10,000 crowds) So unless something changes there will be no club to watch.

Anyway good luck to them tonight , We have had some good wins in Pie land, no reason why we can't again, I feel quite optimistic, we are due a top performance, this could be it.

Jo - great post.

What the club needs is a winning mentality. There's a feeling that they're actually a bit happy to finish fourth, happy to be in and amongst, happy to be trundling about with small crowds.

Given the club has little or no interest in selling the club to the people of Huddersfield, the only thing that might bring in a few thousand more through the gates is a couple of winning seasons. But I don't think the players, or the backroom staff, have the balls (in some cases, talent) to make that step up and win things.

Ryan Hinchcliffe is a big signing for us - coming in from a winning culture at Melbourne. I hope he knocks a few heads together, because there's some good players at the Giants who should win things in their career but won't.

Well, from what I've seen of Blake Solly he's not exactly top notch management material, so I'm not too fussed by what he says.

That said, what progress has the club made in the past ten years off the field?


Jesus, it's only this year that they finally got their s into gear and opened a proper gym for the players and even then it's not actually near a training pitch.

On this note, about five years back I gave a colleague a lift to the station and we were driving along Leeds Road and the players were training. I said to him - that's the Huddersfield Giants training. He was amazed that they trained on a public facility. I hadn't really thought of it, but he was right.

Last week I saw them training there again.



The money that Davy has put in - a lot of it has been ed away.

This.

Huddersfield have done well to become established as a top club in SL. And there's nothing wrong with being happy at finishing 4th when you're used to finishing 10th. But now they need to take the next step, the same one that Leeds had to take under Tony Smith, from the top club least likely to win anything, to actual winners.

From the outside looking in it appears you need more leaders in your squad. You've got Danny Brough who's an excellent player, but is he a leader? I'm not sure who I'd pick out as a leader in your squad.
2 of Leeds best signings were Dave Furner & Andrew Dunneman. IIRC Furner was only at Leeds for 2 years and Dunemann not much longer but the effect they had on the likes of Sinfield, McGuire & Burrow was immense. They, along with Tony Smith, helped turn them from just skilful players to future leaders. Sinfield, McGuire & Burrow then had a similar effect on players like JJB, Ablett.

It seems as if Huddersfield could do with a couple of leaders to start developing the right kind of mentality, which will then feed on itself and spread to others in the squad.

Just a little thing but tonight I noticed Joe Wardle having a right go at his defence on the opposite side of the field following a Wigan try. Now maybe they needed someone to have a go at them but personally I don't think that works. They needed leadership before that point. And certainly didn't need someone having a go at them who'd just given a daft penalty away that gave Wigan an extra set on Hudds line.

I may be wrong, but that's what it looks like from the outside anyway.

totally agree on the mentality thing, again though, impossible to compare us and Leeds.

but those players with that kind of mentality don't grow on trees, hopefully we can start seeing a bit more of that in the next few years,starting with Rapira and Hinchliffe?