Huddersfield Giants duo insist there’s no friction in camp

Admittedly, sometimes it is immaterial; the person in question might not actually want the main role.

They may merely be standing in to help their club through that awkward transitional period between coaches before resuming their usual duties.

However, others may openly express their desire to be considered, only to miss out. Look at Andy Last with Hull FC last term.

Working with whoever is appointed head coach, then, may have its problems and on both sides, too.

Huddersfield Giants employed Ian Watson as their new chief in November, the Great Britain assistant leaving Salford Red Devils to take up a three-year deal at John Smith’s Stadium.

Assistant Luke Robinson had been running matters ever since Simon Woolford’s departure in September and had thrown his hat into the ring, talking about how he felt ready for the job.

The Halifax-born former Huddersfield, Wigan and England scrum-half, 36, won the opening three games of his reign to demonstrate his potential but lost all of the next five.

Following Watson’s appointment, Robinson is now back working as an assistant but – as the West Yorkshire club builds towards their Super League opener against Hull on March 28 – the head coach says there has been no friction.

“The good thing with Robbo is that we speak quite a bit,” Watson told The Yorkshire Post.

“We’d a chat a while back about this and we said when you’ve been head coach, and a new head coach comes in, it is a bit hard to then give up that control.

“But he’s got his role. Initially, when we started pre-season as he was learning to understand my philosophies, Robbo was working mainly with individuals.

“I was focusing on systems and structures and he was working really hard on individuals. But now we’re getting to the point where we’re on the same page and working together on stuff all the time. It’s working really, really well. There’s been no issues of him wanting to dig his heels in.”

On the contrary, 44-year-old Watson feels Robinson has learned to appreciate his role even more.

He said: “I think Robbo knows himself that he wants to be a head coach moving forwards. That’s great as you know he’s going to give his best and work as hard as he can to get there as well.

“But he’s not in any rush. He said it’s amazing how, compared to the end of last year, he now comes home and gets to see the little ones and play with the kids.

“He’s only got a young family. Mine are a little older – nearly 16 and nearly 18 – so they’re at a different stage whereas his are still young and still want him to play.

“When you’re a head coach and you have to go home and cut up video and other stuff, it takes that little bit of time away from your family. He’s even mentioned it himself how he feels he can just breathe a little bit now and enjoy that time with the kids.”

Watson hopes the side he is developing at Giants will help inspire many of the latent rugby league lovers in the town to support the club.

Attracting fans has been a long-term issue for Huddersfield who even struggled when they lifted the 2013 League Leaders’ Shield (average attendance 6,442), the first time in 81 years the club finished top.

Their average was 5,226 in 2019 having fallen in six of the previous seven seasons, Covid obviously meaning the majority of games last season were played behind closed doors.

However, owner Ken Davy has once more invested heavily, this time to fund Watson’s plans, signing a raft of talent such as Melbourne Storm’s Ricky Leutele, Great Britain’s Josh Jones, England forward Joe Greenwood and NRL half-back Jack Cogger.

“When you look at Huddersfield and see the amount of kids playing rugby in and around there, it’s about getting them involved,” said Watson, who points at one of his former clubs, Halifax.

“Halifax have probably been really smart in that sense, by turning into the Panthers recently; it’s a good symbol that will attract a new audience and you can see why they have done that.

“It’s about keeping those once you get them. Our thing is Huddersfield has a really good core of supporters but we need to get more people interested in the club and supporting it. If we get the right team and that team performs to represent the area well, I’m sure that will come.”