This article first appeared in League Express. Read exclusive stories and interviews like this first by purchasing the online edition every Sunday evening at totalrl.com/le, or buy in stores every Monday.
Wakefield Trinity prop Craig Huby has admitted that he was beginning to fall out of love with Rugby League during his two years at Huddersfield Giants.
Huby has joined Trinity on a three-year deal after expressing a desire to leave the John Smith’s Stadium, where he spent two seasons after making the move from Castleford.
However, he has now broken his silence on why he wanted to leave Huddersfield and start afresh somewhere else, telling League Express that he simply wasn’t enjoying what he was doing.
“It was an awkward situation because the fact that I wasn’t happy at Huddersfield was fairly public,” Huby said.
“I’d been thinking about it for a while and the more I trained, the more I felt I wasn’t really enjoying what I was doing. If you’re not enjoying it, you’re not going to be on the top of your game, so I felt I had to move.
“I told the club I would like to pursue other things, although I wasn’t sure there would be other things, but thankfully Wakefield and a couple of other clubs expressed an interest.”
Huby is regarded as a major signing by both Trinity coach Chris Chester and chairman Michael Carter and he is intent on paying back their confidence in him.
“It’s really nice to feel wanted,” he said.
“The coach and the Chairman have both said I’m a big arrival and I need to repay that faith placed in me now. I’m pretty sure I can enjoy my rugby here again.
“There’s a sense of frustration because I don’t think I showed my true potential there. It was a different club with a different style of play and it just didn’t work out. But it’s a new chapter for me now and I can’t wait to get going.”
Huby hopes that after coming so close to the Million Pound Game with Huddersfield last year, he can enjoy much happier times in his new surroundings this year.
“It was probably up there with some of the toughest times I’ve had,” he added.
“Not knowing if your job is secure and not knowing if you’re going to have a club to play for is incredibly hard to deal with. I remember sinking to my knees at various points throughout that Hull KR game thinking we were in real trouble. You don’t realise what’s at stake until you’re actually in that situation.”