The good, the bad & the ugly: Huddersfield’s promise, player strikes ball boy & wildly inconsistent Hull

James Gordon

The good

The achievement of Huddersfield earlier in this decade is often understated, though in recent years their habit of hiring and firing coaches after poor starts to the season have grabbed the headlines.

They might be one of the more unfashionable clubs in Super League, but under Simon Woolford it looks like they may be re-building something akin to what they achieved when they won the league leaders’ shield in 2013.

While Hull were bad, it shouldn’t be taken away from the Giants just how good they were at Anfield, with a clutch of young players standing out, not least hooker Adam O’Brien, but also Darnell McIntosh and Oliver Russell.

They are far from the finished article, but with the experienced Jermaine McGillvary, Michael Lawrence and Leroy Cudjoe still kicking about, they have the nous in there to grow.

Recruitment of a few quality experienced pros, much like Danny Brough and Kevin Brown were back in the day, is going to be key to if Woolford can take his team forward.

Incredibly, Huddersfield now boast the best Magic Weekend record to boot, as well as the biggest ever win.

The bad

There could well be a fall out over this incident that occurred after a Swinton try against Dewsbury at the weekend. A Dewsbury player appears to hit out at a ball boy, which results in a scuffle.

On-loan Wigan forward Samy Kibula was sent-off by the referee shortly after for dissent.

It will be interesting to see if there is any more to follow from this incident.

The ugly

It’s becoming a worrying habit for Hull, but their defeat to Huddersfield at Magic Weekend was as ugly as they come.

A week on from a tremendous away win at Warrington, the Airlie Birds suffered a humiliation in front of a sizeable crowd at Anfield on one of rugby league’s big days out.

Cheered on by a boisterous following in the Kop end, they were soon made to shut up by a dismal display by their team that left coach Lee Radford scratching his head once again.

Playing poorly is one thing, but throwing the towel in so early in the contest is unforgivable and the players must look at themselves. The incident that highlighted it for me was when Joe Westerman knocked on around the half hour mark, and a complete lack of reaction from him and those around him enabled Huddersfield to pick up the loose ball and make easy yards.

Danny Houghton is a huge miss for Hull that much is true, and Danny Washbrook as good of a professional he is, just isn’t a hooker. On their day, Hull can be a match for anyone. These frequent hammerings in and around good performances must stop if they are ever going to truly establish themselves as play-off regulars.

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