Huddersfield Giants v Castleford Tigers: Settled side helping Giants says Ian Watson while Lee Radford wants Cas to build on win

Giants, who play host to Castleford Tigers this afternoon, have won three of their opening four games and, unlike some of their rivals, managed to field a relatively stable 17 so far.

Watson is planning to put out a similar side to the one which crushed Salford Red Devils 34-2 six days ago and feels that continuity, plus pressure from players not in the team, is bringing the best out of his men.

“It is important, every good team has consistency throughout the side,” said Watson of being able to stick to a winning formula.

“That is what we are working to achieve. The players are working really hard and they know every week matters and they are accountable for their performances.”

“It is about the team getting some consistency and building going forward and we feel we are doing that at the moment.”

He stressed: “The players who are in the team are performing and holding their shirt at the moment; nobody wants to be left out and likewise, the players who aren’t in the team want to be, so they are all waiting for an opportunity. It is a good place to be and good competition for places.”

Watson feels his team are in for a forward battle today, after keeping Salford’s dangerous backs in check last Sunday.

“They’ve got a lot bigger pack than Salford so there’ll be different challenges,” said the coach of what threats Tigers will pose

“Salford wanted to test us on the edges and move the ball a lot earlier than some other teams.

“Castleford possess those attributes, but the pack is something they’ll be looking to play off, the size of them.”

Tigers are also in buoyant mood following their first win of the season, at home to Hull FC last weekend.

They ran in six tries, including a hat-trick for winger Greg Eden and their coach Lee Radford is looking for a similar performance today.

He said: “Changes were forced upon us, in putting Paul [McShane] at half and Gaz [O’Brien] to full-back, but I think they complemented each other.

“Paul put some air on the ball and was on the move a fair bit and it was probably the best Truey [Jake Trueman] has played this year as well.

“I thought Gaz looked tidy at full-back as a running threat and he caused them some issues.

“It was nice to see it come to fruition.”

Radford described the first win as “a bit of reinforcement, of what we are preaching and that we’ve asked for”.

He added: “If we get it right, we can challenge oppositions more often than not.

“Even with the players we had missing, we still had a fair starting 13 out there and one that would challenge most teams in the comp’.”

Of this afternoon’s challenge, Radford stressed: “I’ve never been there when it has been an easy game.

“The field itself is probably one of the biggest in the comp’, so getting behind our kick-chase is going to be incredibly important, even more so with the back-three they’ve got.

“They are all running threats, so that’s a part of our game we need to be bang-at this weekend.

“Hopefully we can carry on some of the good stuff we did on Sunday and bring that energy I thought we had throughout the game.”

Giants are again without Theo Fages, who has a calf injury which is likely to keep him out of action for another two weeks.

Second-row Josh Jones also remains sidelined following a head knock, but Michael Lawrence could return, Danny Levi is available following suspension and Watson confirmed Joe Greenwood will be back among the substitutes.

Jake Mamo (concussion) and ex-Giant Kenny Edwards (calf muscle strain) are back in contention for Tigers after missing their last two games and Liam Watts will return following a one-match ban.

James Clare, who picked up a suspension in pre-season and was then loaned to York City Knights, is also included in the initial squad.