Anderson confident Giants can keep their cool at top

CONFIDENT assistant coach Paul Anderson insists Huddersfield Giants can live with the pressure of being the Stobart Super League leaders.

Having lost just once in their last seven games, they entertain Hull FC today in what, given their opponents’ own excellent form, has emerged as a surprise top-of-the-table encounter,

Ambitious Huddersfield have often threatened Leeds Rhinos’ stranglehold on the title in recent years and came within 80 minutes of reaching an Old Trafford final in 2010.

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However, they have too often come unstuck when it matters most, illustrated by Leeds’s play-off defeat of them at the Galpharm Stadium last term.

They have been attacked for their lack of steel in such occasions and, as they sit in pole position this morning, Anderson admitted: “People will expect us to fall away.

“But that was then and this is now.”

It is a bold statement but if ever Huddersfield, who have not won the league since 1962, are going to push on and deliver on their clear promise, then this has to be the time.

Coach Nathan Brown, who has developed the squad so markedly in his four years in West Yorkshire, wiil leave at the end of the season to join St Helens with Anderson stepping up.

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Huddersfield would love nothing better than to send their boss off on a high and the depth of talent currently at his disposal has to be admired.

The Giants also face Hull – aiming for a seventh successive win and enjoying their best run for six years – in the Carnegie Challenge Cup on Sunday but Anderson maintains the 2009 finalists are not yet thinking about that prospect.

“We have three games in a short space of time all of which are as important as each other; the focus has to be on one game at a time and continuing our form,” he said, Good Friday’s 36-10 win at Salford getting them off to a perfect start.

“Hull play some expansive footy and have taken to their new style of play, adopting it very well. This squad here knows they have to approach each game with the right intensity.”

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Hull are, indeed, looking impressive under new coach Peter Gentle as they too attempt to win a maiden Super League title.

They have quietly worked their way to within a point of the leaders and still have a game in hand.

Captain Andy Lynch has been a major part of their improvement following his £100,000 move from Bradford Bulls.

The experienced prop was typically effective in the emphatic 36-6 Good Friday triumph over Hull KR – the biggest success against their arch-rivals during the summer era.

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The Black and Whites overcame a major injury crisis – deepened further after stand-off Richard Horne suffered a hamstring strain which sidelines him today – to run out convincing winners setting up this afternoon’s intriguing contest.

Pragmatic Lynch told the Yorkshire Post: “People are saying we could go top if we win at Huddersfield but we don’t want to look at any of that.

“We’ve got a tough period of games coming up with Huddersfield, twice, Wigan, and Leeds in there too which is a big ask, so we’ve just got to keep performing and improving.

“Huddersfield are going really well, have some awesome players and have just got some more back from injury. We’ve got to freshen up over the weekend and get right for Monday; we have to improve on that Rovers performance.”

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Someone who will be eager to prove he is still fresh is heroic Lee Radford, the Hull assistant coach who came out of retirement to deliver a man-of-the-match performance in the derby.

Seven years after they last played together at Bradford, old friends Lynch and Radford combined brilliantly in the Hull front-row with the veteran actually going over for a try on a memorable afternoon.

Lynch, 32, admitted: “When I signed for Hull (in September) the news hadn’t come out that Radders was packing in and I’d thought I was going to start playing with him again.

“I was really disappointed when I found out he wouldn’t be, even though obviously I was delighted for him he got the assistant job here.

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“When he said he was coming out of retirement this week though to help us out it was great to play together once more and in the derby too which, for me, was just an awesome experience.

“He brought a lot of experience to the team and his intensity in training has given everyone a massive lift while, during the match, he showed just how he can still hack it,

“Hopefully he’ll be alright and will be able to do the same at Huddersfield as well.”

Half-back Jamie Ellis, who joined from Leigh last winter, is set to make his first Super League start for Hull given Horne’s expected absence.