Huddersfield Giants coach Simon Woolford keen on a longer stay at the club

The Australian is out of contract at the end of this season and has yet to sort his future with the West Yorkshire club.

Woolford left his role as a Newcastle Knights assistant in April 2018 to take on his first head coach job with Huddersfield and helped inspire an impressive turnaround to avoid relegation.

Last year was more difficult with a succession of injuries hindering their progress and they only secured their safety on a dramatic final night of action.

However, with the recruitment of Canberra Raiders half-back Aidan Sezer on a marquee deal, the Fartowners began 2020 impressively, winning four of their opening five Super League games before the competition was shutdown in March due to coronavirus.

But Woolford, 45, told The Yorkshire Post: “I haven’t got anything sorted for next year.

“I guess I’m like some of the players and a bit in no man’s land at the moment.

“I’d like to think that something will be available here but stranger things have happened so we’ll wait and see. My focus is getting the boys back on the field as ready as we can be to make sure we kick-off where we left off in Super League.”

Former Canberra hooker Woolford, who has helped tie up new deals for plenty of the club’s impressive youngsters, wants to carry on the work he has started at John Smith’s Stadium.

He admitted: “I’d like to have something sorted by now but that’s not the case.

“I have to crack on and control what I can control and that’s getting the team playing well.

“My future will sort itself out, whether it’s here or somewhere else, I can’t control that.

“I am pretty settled here. I’ve had a couple of years here now and feel like the squad we’ve got has come on a lot from when I first arrived.

“Although we’d only played five rounds before it was shutdown, I think we’ve shown we’re a team to be reckoned with this season.

“It’s unfortunate the disruption we’ve had but all we can do now is make sure we get back ready to go.”

Super League announced its restart plans yesterday with the competition set to resume on August 2 with a televised triple-header at one behind-closed-doors venue.

Huddersfield will round off that day’s action when they face Leeds Rhinos (6.30pm) on a game that was originally postponed in February due to Storm Ciara. On their first opponents after nearly four months out of action, Woolford conceded: “It doesn’t really matter who we play.

“Leeds are in a similar position to us; they had a lot of momentum before Super League was stopped and were very good in the first month so it’ll be a nice test for us.

“We’ll be ready. The guys have trained really hard on their own and taken it upon themselves to get right.

“We’ve put a lot of trust in them to do the right thing in lockdown and we’ll look to get them back in here for a three or four week build-up to that game.”

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