Huddersfield Giants hope captaincy is not a poisoned chalice

Huddersfield Giants' Michael Lawrence (Picture: Bruce Rollinson).

Lawrence led the side in last Thursday’s opening 38-12 Super League defeat at Hull FC in the absence of Leroy Cudjoe, but picked up a hamstring injury that will sideline him for at least a fortnight.

“I’m a bit disappointed for Bruno who was coming back from a knee injury last year,” said Giants coach Rick Stone. “We’ve got a week off after this week so he may have a chance of being back for round three.”

With Cudjoe still recovering from knee surgery, Stone is likely to turn to Australian forward Ryan Hinchcliffe or former captain Danny Brough to lead the team against the Wolves.

“We’ve got a decent leadership group,” said Stone. “It will be between probably Hinchcliffe and Broughy I suppose.

“Our captains are falling a bit like flies, we can’t afford to lose any more. Hopefully it’s not a poisoned chalice.”

Stone is hopeful that England winger Jermaine McGillvary will be fit for the opening home game after sitting out the trip to Hull with a knee injury he picked up playing in the World Cup.

“He has a chance,” said Stone. “He trained pretty well yesterday.”

Huddersfield will still be without prop Shannon Wakeman, centre Alex Mellor and second-row Tom Symonds as they look to bounce back from what Stone said was a “pretty embarrassing second half” at Hull.

Stone is urging free-scoring Australian full-back Jake Mamo to go back to basics in order to eradicate the defensive errors that helped Hull run away with the game at the KCOM Stadium.

“There are always going to be high expectations on Jake,” said Stone of the former Newcastle Knights player who scored 12 tries in nine appearances in an injury-hit first season in Super League in 2017.

“He was a bit rusty for sure and he was really disappointed in his game and wants to bounce back.

“I think he can start by doing the basics right to begin with, making sure he comes up with no errors and putting himself in the right positions.

“He sets himself pretty high standards. He’s got some confidence in his ability and he hasn’t lost any of that, he just needs to concentrate a bit harder and make sure he executes.”