Huddersfield Giants reject loan enquiry for half-back as Super League loan market heats up

Huddersfield Giants have rejected an approach from another Super League club to take half-back Olly Russell on loan.

Russell has found opportunities hard to come by in the Giants side in recent weeks, with Huddersfield coach Ian Watson settling on a spine of Jake Connor at fullback, with Tui Lolohea and Adam Clune in the halves.

It has led to an upturn in form, with the Giants winning their last five games in all competitions to progress to the Challenge Cup semi-finals and leave them in a handy position in Super League ahead of Thursday’s trip to St Helens.

A number of clubs are active in the transfer market as they aim to bolster their squads following a poor start to the season, and Watson confirmed in his pre-match press conference on Wednesday that Huddersfield had fielded an approach from another club to take Russell on loan.

However, Watson explained why that had been rejected.

“We’ve had an enquiry about Olly Russell, I won’t lie about that,” he said.

“Olly’s a great kid and he deserves to be playing. We’ve had an enquiry but unfortunately for Olly we can’t allow him to go out on loan. He’s a high quality half-back and we need him at this moment in time because we have picked up a few niggles.”

But Watson did admit that if Russell was still struggling for game-time after the Challenge Cup semi-finals, admitting: “We might look at that when we get through the semi-final.”

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