Concerned Stone demands players take responsibility

Concerned Huddersfield coach Rick Stone said his players had some explaining to do after they made it seven games without a win against Catalans.

A poor second half performance saw them go down 29-22 at home to the Dragons on Wednesday night, and a frank Stone said his players need to take responsibility.

He said: “The players have got a bit of explaining to do. I can’t keep coming in here and defending them. They’ve got to take some responsibility for what they’re doing, and if they don’t change that, they aren’t going to win too many games.

“Everyone can see if we keep serving it up for teams on a platter, we are not going to win.”

Asked if he was concerned, Stone replied: “I should be” before walking out of his post-match press conference at the John Smith’s Stadium.

The Giants led 10-6 with two minutes left in the first half, but eventually fell 18 points behind as the Dragons recorded a second successive victory.

Stone added: “We self-destructed in those 20 minutes at the start of the second half. It’s getting increasingly frustrating. We came up with a lot of errors and did a lot of dumb things.

“I thought we managed things pretty well for most of the first half, conceded some soft tries which is a worry.

“But with the errors and the sin-binning, we didn’t make it easy for ourselves.”

Despite credible away draws at Wigan and St Helens, the Giants have managed just two wins all season.

They travel to Warrington on Easter Monday.