Frustrated Stone warns Huddersfield Giants they must learn lessons from Wakefield Trinity defeat

Yesterday’s 22-4 defeat at Wakefield Trinity was already their third defeat in four games this term and left them with plenty to ponder.

Although Huddersfield were competitive for large parts, their ill-discipline was a big concern.

Stone said: “We’ve been competitive in all our games but we need to make sure we balance everything together.

“The concentration, game-awareness and intelligence has got to be better than the last few weeks.

“I can’t be too disappointed with the boys’ effort but if you’re going to win games at this level you need to have more of a complete package that what we’ve been doing.

“It was pretty frustrating I think for everyone – both for the boys on the field and on the sideline.

“We conceded seven straight penalties at the start of the second-half and by the time that finished we had a bloke in the bin and we were 10 points down. That made things frustrating and to be honest the better team won.”

Kruise Leeming conceding a penalty for offside after his side had been put on a team warning and the hooker was, therefore, handed a yellow card, the sort of naivety that has to be eradicated,

There was also a penalty conceded for dissent while Huddersfield had all the possession early on but came away with nothing.

“In the first half there wasn’t much in the game both in statistics and the scoreboard,” added Stone, his side trailing 6-4 after Lee Gaskell’s try on his 150th career appearance.

“I told them to be patient. Points were hard to come by and both teams showed that. I thought we had to show more intent in our play but I wasn’t too concerned.

“But we didn’t start well in the second half and everyone in the whole camp was frustrated. In those conditions it was always going to be tough. We need to learn from that.

“We’ve had too many times where we’ve come away with a lot of effort but effort alone won’t win you a game. We have to be a bit smarter and more disciplined.”

Tommy Symonds did make his return after 11 months out with a knee injury, though, although centre Jordan Turner went off with a head injury.