Danny Brough praises Woolford's impact at Huddersfield Giants

The West Yorkshire club is closing in on safety after a fine 
20-12 win over second-placed Wigan Warriors on Thursday night.

Huddersfield were bottom in May but, since Australian Woolford was appointed, have won seven of their last eight games to transform their campaign.

Veteran half-back Brough told The Yorkshire Post: “He’s brought structure to the lads. When we stick to our structures we are pretty good. We didn’t actually stick to them against Wigan and I thought we were scrappy – poor with the ball – yet we still got the job done. Something is working for us and we’re defending well.”

That defensive spirit was clear for all to see as they subdued Wigan for most of the contest.

Former Scotland captain Brough, 35, admitted: “It was a good win. And obviously it’s massive in terms of league position. We’ve just got to keep on winning so we don’t end up down there in that bottom four.

“But the ball’s in our court. I think we probably just have to win at least another game now and then try and kick on from there by winning as many as we can until the end of the year.”

Huddersfield head to one of Brough’s former clubs Castleford Tigers on Friday before rounding off the regular season at home to another - Wakefield Trinity.

“Cas are a good team and we’re turning out to be a good team,” he added. “I don’t think we’re quite at their level yet ball in hand and skill-wise. But in terms of attitude in defence I think we are. We’ll look forward to going over there.”

Woolford was pleased with his side’s application once more.

“We weren’t great with the ball and we took a little step backwards with our attack,” he said.

“But from a defensive point of view we were outstanding.

“They’re just getting better every week. The belief in the group is growing and that’s only going to benefit us in the coming weeks.”

Wigan lost captain Sean O’Loughlin midway through the first half with a recurrence of a calf strain and coach Shaun Wane was forced to give a debut to 18-year-old Samy Kabula after John Bateman pulled out late with a groin problem.

But Wane admitted: “We were poor. There were too many pressure releases, our skill was poor and we gave away too many penalties. They were the best team.

“It meant a great deal to them; you could see that with the way they celebrated at the end.”