Covid-19 outbreak fails to derail Ian Watson’s pre-season preparations for Huddersfield Giants

Like Leeds Rhinos, they halted practice on Thursday for a minimum of five days after a number of positive tests in their ranks.

Super League is not due to begin until March 25 so it is still early in the West Yorkshire club’s preparations.

Watson, who took over in November on a three-year deal, conceded it was a frustration.

“You always want to train and imagine getting the group to a certain point over the first few weeks,” he said.

“But, to be fair, I think we’re really good. We’d had nothing (Covid-wise), had gone really well, getting everything done training-wise and it was just last week, basically, where we picked up a few cases.

“We were looking to have a five-day break this week anyway because of the intensity of the training so far, so we’ve just brought that break forward a few days.

“We’re actually in a really, really good position and happy with where we are.

“All the boys are looking pretty good.

“And the one good thing with bringing the break forward a little bit is that it will mean that everyone is back in when we do come back.”

Watson believes the squad, who saw Australian scrum-half and captain Aidan Sezer return last week along with NRL signing Jack Cogger, will resume in a few days.

“We’re going to get tested early this week, steam clean all the training facility and hopefully we’ll be back open on Wednesday,” he said, with another of their 2021 captures – former Melbourne Storm centre Ricky Leutele – also now in the country.

“But we’ll probably still stick to our normal schedule and come back in Thursday.

“Jack Cogger’s here and he came in on Tuesday and did a little bit of weights.

“Aidan’s back over and his first day would have been last Thursday. He’ll be back in this week and Ricky lands today (Sunday).”

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