Brown in demand as Giants regain top spot

With Penrith Panthers announcing yesterday that former Bradford Bulls chief Matthew Elliott will not be in charge there in 2012, Giants’ highly-respected head coach is tipped for a return to Sydney at the end of the year when his current contract runs out.

The ex-St George-Illawarra man, who almost headed home last year when his wife was ill, is in his third season and has overseen an impressive transformation which many feel will end in success this time around.

Having suffered a surprisingly heavy loss to bottom-placed Crusaders on Good Friday, he made eight changes last night and garnered the desired response although it was not until the second half that Huddersfield finally found their stride.

Salford, whose caretaker coach Phil Veivers confirmed he would apply for their own vacant head coach position in 2012 with Shaun McRae still on sick leave, have shipped more than 100 points over the Easter period but trailed just 24-18 at the break.

However, the home forwards, once more expertly guided by scrum-half Danny Brough, gained supremacy, the improving second row Dale Ferguson scoring twice to take his tally to six in as many games and the marauding prop Darrell Griffin gaining a well-deserved effort following another robust display.

The opening seven of Giants’ nine tries all came from their pack, a fact not lost on assistant coach Paul Anderson.

“That’s a nice stat,” said the former Bradford prop.

“It proves if you run hard and direct you will get the ball over the line and it’s pleasing for them as they do a lot of things that don’t always get noticed.

“It was a real slow start to the game but once we got our anxiety out of the way we got the response we wanted.

“It’s nice to be at the top again but we’ll prefer to be there after 27 rounds and a couple of play-off games.”

Daniel Holdsworth’s accurate pass opened up Huddersfield’s defence for Adam Sidlow to crash through from 10 metres early on.

The provider added the conversion but Giants responded quickly when, after Kevin Brown had forced their own drop out, surging Luke O’Donnell twisted his way over for a try off Shaun Lunt’s smart pass.

Brough levelled the scores with the first of his seven conversions but a moment of farce saw Salford re-take the lead in the 20th minute.

Holdsworth’s ‘bomb’ should not have caused Scott Grix any problems behind his own line but the full-back let it bounce and Mark Henry dived between embarrassed Grix and Dave Hodgson to touch it back for Holdsworth to pounce, the Australian goaling his own score.

The tit-for-tat scoring continued when Lunt, starting in the absence of fellow England hooker Luke Robinson’s rib injury, capitalised on poor line defence to pick up and squeeze over from dummy half, Brough equalising once more.

Huddersfield finally seized the initiative when they took the lead for the first time in the re-start set.

Brown cleverly dummied and delayed a long pass to Hodgson which fooled the fringe defence and eventually allowed the winger enough space to stretch clear, Jamie Cording supporting inside to finish off and score his first try for the club.

Brough then hoisted a crossfield kick which Jermaine McGillvary brilliantly plucked from the air to feed Grix who applied the final off-load for Ferguson.

Brough’s conversion brought up the scrum-half’s 2,000th career point but Salford rallied when Henry latched onto Holdsworth’s clever reverse grubber two minutes before the break.

He maintained his success rate with the boot but when Ferguson eased over for his second just five minutes into the second period, Huddersfield did not look back.

Lunt burrowed over for his own double as Salford again failed to defend their line with any urgency.

Griffin was the next to plunder his way over as the tiring visitors struggled to deal with the hosts’ forward power.

Brown was the first non-forward to get in when the stand-off stepped, danced and stretched his way over for their eighth try.

Brough added his seventh conversion and was then given a rare breather for the remaining 14 minutes as Nathan Brown began looking ahead to Saturday’s game in Perpignan.

Stefan Ratchford scored a scruffy try after Grix fumbled Matty Smith’s kick but it was only a momentary lapse as McGillvary scrambled over for his ninth try of the season, Grix completing the rout.

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Huddersfield: Grix; McGillvary, Wardle, Lawrence, Hodgson; Brown, Brough; Raleigh, Lunt, Griffin, Ferguson, Cording, O’Donnell. Substitutes: Crabtree, Faiumu, Wood, Molloy.

Salford Reds: Patten; Broughton, Gibson, Ratchford, Henry; Smith, Holdsworth; Cashmere, Godwin, Boyle, Adamson, Sidlow, Wild. Substitutes: Jewitt, Paleaaesina, Spencer, Sneyd.

Referee: T Alibert (Toulouse).