Ian Watson admits Huddersfield Giants in battle to keep young forward Owen Trout

The 23-year-old is not short of suitors with Hull FC and Castleford Tigers among the clubs credited with an interest as he approaches the end of his current deal.

Trout has made over 50 appearances for the Giants since arriving from Leeds Rhinos ahead of the 2020 season.

"We're not resigned to him moving," said Watson. "We've spoken to him and offered him a new deal which he turned down.

"With the pool of talent and salary cap, people are throwing money at him and it'll come down to money or whether he wants to be part of something bigger than that.

"Everyone makes their own decisions for the right reasons. As long as he makes the right decision for him and his own family, that's all you can ask Trouty to do.

"He's been an important player for us over the last couple of years, hence there's a lot of clubs looking at him now.

"When you look around the league, there's not a lot of middles coming off contract so people are going to jump on top of someone like Trouty because he's a great kid."

Watson concedes that Huddersfield's circumstances mean they are unable to match the money being offered by rival clubs.

"If you look at some of the teams that have been touted as being in for Owen Trout, they've probably got players coming off contract who have been on big deals so they're willing to take a punt and pay a bit more," added Watson, who revealed the club are close to agreeing fresh terms with experienced prop Chris Hill.

"Because it's a salary cap sport, as soon as you start doing well and players start doing well, there's a bit of a demand and the fees go up.

"It then becomes a money issue with the player where they're getting offered 25, 30-odd grand more than they're being offered at their present club.

"With the lack of English players available, it's pushed people's prices up. It's whether a club is willing to pay that or bring one of their younger players through."

Watson's immediate focus is on tomorrow night's trip to high-flying Hull KR, six points and six places better off than the Giants in the Super League table.

After seeing his team suffer their fifth defeat of the year last time out at Hull FC, Watson has wielded the axe.

"Jez (Jermaine McGillvary) has been dropped," said the Huddersfield boss. "It's performance-based and Jez knows that.

"A couple of other players have been dropped on performance as well because we can't be getting beat in certain effort areas or making silly errors.

"We sat through the review of the Hull game as a team and there were five or six players that were nowhere near the levels that they've been at."