Huddersfield Giants v Leeds Rhinos: Ferres happy to tackle boo-boys in revenge bid

The England international returns to his former club for the second week running tonight as the defending champions seek to avenge last Friday’s 28-20 Super League loss at John Smith’s Stadium by knocking Huddersfield out of the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup.

Second-row Ferres was sold to Leeds in January after initially being suspended by their West Yorkshire rivals following a relationship with a team-mate’s wife.

Losing their vice-captain certainly weakened Huddersfield’s playing strength.

Indeed, last season’s Super League semi-finalists were bottom until defeating Rhinos last week, sending Leeds to the foot of the table instead.

Some home fans jeered Ferres during his first game back at the club he served for three-and-a-half years and he expects the same treatment tonight.

However, he maintains that will not affect his own performance in any way.

The 30-year-old is disappointed, though, that it was reported his former colleagues refused to play with him following last December’s revelations.

“I still speak to quite a lot of the players at Huddersfield,” said Ferres, who helped Paul Anderson’s side to the League Leaders’ Shield in 2013.

“I still have a lot of fun with them during the game and after.

“The press has put some different things out there and it’s certainly a disappointing aspect.

“For instance, it was said he (team-mate) was the best man at my wedding but he wasn’t – my dad was my best man.

“He wasn’t my best mate either.

“It was also said people didn’t want to play with me any more but that’s not what I’ve heard from those I’ve spoken to.

“None of them said any of that to me.

“I’ve no affiliation to Huddersfield Giants now, though. I’ve not spoken to Baloo (Anderson) since and have no plans to.

“I’m a Leeds player now and that’s what I’m concentrating on.”

Given he had a raft of clubs interested in his services when he was transfer-listed last winter, it was a surprise Ferres eventually only signed a one-year contract at Headingley.

That means his plans for 2017 are so far unclear but – despite Leeds’ surprise struggles this term – he does hope to extend his stay with the champions.

“It is just a 12-month deal and the ball’s in Leeds Rhinos’ court really,” added the former Wakefield Trinity and Castleford Tigers forward, who started out his career with Bradford Bulls.

“They’ll get first dibs so I’ll wait and see what Brian (McDermott) and Gary (Hetherington) think about it.

“Hopefully, something will get sorted but I’m in no rush.

“It’s up to the club but I’m happy with how I’m going. It’s good to be back fit and playing and I managed to do that last week.

“I’ll look to back that up this Friday and, in terms of contracts, all the way through my career I’ve felt my football will sort that out.”

Ferres concedes Leeds missed an opportunity to give their league campaign a much-needed lift last week – they have lost six of their last seven games – but insists that will not hamper their chances of advancing to the Cup quarter-finals.

He said: “We put ourselves in a good position before half-time but in the second half it went we score, you score, we score, you score…

“They got the final say at the end and it was disappointing we couldn’t back up our attack and keep that lead but there were positives again.

“I think Huddersfield will have got a lot of confidence out of it and it was a good win for them after some struggles.

“They’ll carry that forward to this Friday but we’re looking forward to going back there.

“The league is out of the window for one week and we can put our fresh focus on the Challenge Cup.

“We’re putting in better performances and we’ll go there now with the mindset of knockout football.”

Leeds, of course, are the Challenge Cup holders, having lifted the famous trophy the last two seasons.

However, it looks like being their only chance of silverware this term following an alarming fall from grace for last year’s treble-winners.

Ferres, who has never reached the final before, would love to take a step closer.

He has yet to score for his new club and had missed the last month with a calf injury before returning at Huddersfield so he now hopes to kick on.

Leeds’ chances should be aided by the return this evening of his England colleague Zak Hardaker and Adam Cuthbertson, the Australian prop who was so devastating during his debut Super League campaign last term.