Huddersfield Giants chief says they won't worry about "interesting" opener with Hull FC

The West Yorkshire club take on the Black and Whites at Emerald Headingley on Sunday March 28.

Watson, of course, spoke to Hull about their head coach vacancy before eventually leaving Salford Red Devils for Huddersfield in November.

Since arriving at John Smith’s Stadium, he has reshaped the squad with some significant signings, not least Hull’s Great Britain second-row Josh Jones, Samoa centre Ricky Leutele and England forward Joe Greenwood from Wigan Warriors.

Looking ahead to that opener, when Brett Hodgson will take charge of his first league game for Hull, Lions assistant Watson conceded: “It will be interesting.

“The dynamics of their team will have changed with a new head coach coming in.

“You have new half-backs in there as well while Jake Connor looks like he will be at full-back so there will be a new dynamic to the way that they play.

“It will be very interesting to see how they go.

“Obviously, with it being the first (Super League) game, we might not have enough footage on how they play so we’ll have to rely on our own ability and processes.

“But we’ll worry about ourselves more than Hull in that first game.”

Last term, Huddersfield, who finished seventh, lost numerous games by narrow margins under both Simon Woolford and then interim head coach Luke Robinson.

Correcting that is key as Watson seeks to make them a competitive force once more.

Asked how he will, he replied: “I think personnel look after that and mentality; understanding it’s not good enough to just compete.

“It’s about winning games. You want to be a person who is known for coming through the other side.

“While it’s good that you’re competing and putting yourselves in those positions, ultimately you get marked on the wins.

“It’s up to us to make sure we go into those games confident we can turn tight losses into victories.”

Huddersfield face Halifax in an opposed training session on Saturday before taking on Leeds Rhinos in their main friendly before Super League starts.

On their hopes of success in 2021, Watson said: “I’m not setting any sort of benchmarks.

“We want to do well and we’re a team that’s set up to do well now that we’ve recruited.

“Aim big and miss small will be the key thing for us.”

Meanwhile, the benevolence of owner Ken Davy has been illustrated once more with the club launching the cheapest season tickets in Super League and by some distance.

They are priced at just £99 but anyone under the age of 30 can purchase one for only £50 as Giants continue to try and get more fans through the gates.

Asked what they will get for that, Watson replied: “Hopefully a lot of entertainment and a lot of wins.”

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