Brown hails Eden as England’s Slater
Giants boss Nathan Brown hailed Greg Eden as England‘s answer to Billy Slater after watching his Giants jump to the top of the Super League with a clinical win at Headingley.
Eden claimed Huddersfield’s third try in a comprehensive performance, and Brown was quick to heap praise on the 21-year-old star.
Brown said: “He’s got the potential to be one of the greatest players in this competition. There’s no doubt about that. He’s like Billy Slater was when he was young. He can do things that most other players in this competition or the NRL cannot do. He’s brilliant.
“He’s young and with youth sometimes comes a bit of pain at times, but you stick with them and they keep learning.
“The only thing stopping that kid from being a great player will be bad luck or if he stops working hard at his game and starts believing what you blokes (the media) write about him.
“We were fortunate that we got a tip off about him last year. He’ll be a player that Basil will think, ‘why the hell have we let him go?’ But thankfully we got him and the sky’s the limit for him. He’s brilliant. He’s just got to keep working hard and keep a level head. He’ll be sensational over time.”
Things had looked different when Zak Hardaker scored in a fourth successive game to edge Leeds ahead midway through the second half, but that was as good as it got for the stuttering Rhinos. Giants eventually got on top towards the back end of a frantic first half, and they never looked like relinquishing the advantage.
Jason Chan was outstanding all night and could have grabbed Huddersfield’s first try, only to be stopped short just inches from the line.
But his powerful charge gave the visitors enough momentum for Danny Brough‘s pass from dummy half to allow Eorl Crabtree to barge over on the next tackle.
And Chan got his reward for backing up Scott Grix‘s midfield break by racing clear from two defenders to give Huddersfield a lead they never looked like relinquishing.
Eden collected Jermaine McGillvary‘s kick early in the second half to push the visitors further ahead, with McGillvary’s own try wrapping things up despite Kylie Leuluai‘s late consolation.
Leeds boss Brian McDermott said: “A couple of quick-fire tries from Huddersfield were probably the difference.
“Our performance was a hell of a lot better than last week, but it’s disappointing that their tries came from soft, missed tackles.
“It’s easily fixed, but it’s disappointing when it happens like that. I haven’t got any complaints: they deserved to win the game.
“We were guilty of trying to do it through individual brilliance rather than rely on some of the things we practised, but with the personnel out there it was a good performance.”
