Depth comes to the fore for Giants after loss of Chan with bicep injury

The Papua New Guinea star will undergo surgery early next week after rupturing his left bicep.

He suffered the injury during Sunday’s emphatic 42-6 win over Bradford Bulls in which he once more highlighted his growing presence with a series of thundering runs.

Chan’s enforced absence is a major blow for the West Yorkshire club, who are just three points behind leaders Wigan Warriors.

That is more so as he had just started finding his best football again after a two-month lay-off following a knee injury suffered during the win at Leeds Rhinos in March. However, back-row is one position where Huddersfield coach Paul Anderson is not short of options and he is content with their ability to overcome the 29-year-old’s loss.

“Chan is a great player but if we do things right then we will get him back for the end of August which will hopefully be a crucial time for us,” he said, one eye clearly on a potential Wembley date at the end of that month for the Challenge Cup quarter-finalists.

“The bonus from when we lost Chan at Leeds Rhinos is that we now know that our ready-made replacement is there.

“We can put Brett Ferres on the left, Ukuma Ta’ai on the right and roll Michael Lawrence, Dale Ferguson and Jamie Cording all in and around that to get the time there. The positive we have is that we have lost a good strike player, but we get to replace him with a good strike player too.”

Huddersfield host St Helens in the televised Monday night game and that will be another opportunity for Ta’ai to show his increasing dynamism.

The muscular back-row has had a stuttering start at Giants, his late arrival from New Zealand Warriors due to visa problems accentuated by fitness issues.

But he was brutal against Bulls and Anderson said: “What’s happening is I’m learning about Ukuma; the things he’s natural and not natural in doing.

“He’s definitely comfortable running with ball in hand.

“He’s played some big minutes and now has got to keep on doing that.”