HAVING been taken under the banner of the club rather than the Giants Foundation ahead of last season, hopes were high that Huddersfield could mount a serious challenge.
Putting two leading players on contracts, access to new facilities and a host of new names with previous Super League experience added to those hopes, but it wasn’t to be, picking up just four wins all season and finishing sixth.
This year’s headline signings are Ireland international Fran Copley from Featherstone and Eva Izumi, who played seven league games for champions York last season.
The experience and knowledge these two bring, as well as the power added by prop duo of Skye Jackson (British Army RL) and Grace Burnett (Warrington Wolves) and the youthful enthusiasm of Tilly Davies and Faye Barraclough (both Leeds under 19s), means coach Lori Halloran has a real mix with in her squad.
But will it be enough to shake things up at the top of the league? They probably won’t trouble the top four, but could be the best of the rest.
Watch out for… Amelia Brown will once again be Huddersfield’s leading light. Scoring 25 tries in 16 appearances in all competitions in 2024, Brown, who made a try-scoring England debut against Wales in November, once again showed the level of skill and raw speed she possesses. The two-year contract she signed ahead of last year will be coming to an end so another impressive season with ball in hand could have a big say in whether she stays at the club or looks for a change of scene elsewhere – they’ll surely be no shortage of interest giving her strike record.
Bethan Oates says… We’ve got quite a few new signings and the energy, enthusiasm and work-rate they’ve brought in has set a positive tone for us. We want to achieve better than last season, when I set a standard I believed we could fulfil and we didn’t. I said I wanted to aim for the top four and we were sixth. I don’t think we had the quality in the squad. We had a lot of players out injured, and we had players coming and going who weren’t really dedicated to the team. Not everybody was on the same path, but this season definitely feels like everybody wants to achieve bigger and better. We’ve signed Tilly Davies from Leeds under 19s who has real aggression and quality, so she’s definitely one to look out for. We’ve got quite a few new girls to strengthen the forward pack, and I’ve moved positions (from hooker to loose-forward) so there have been a lot of changes.
2025 squad:1 Amelia Brown, 2 Tilly Davies, 3 Lois Naidole, 4 Fran Copley, 5 Mollie Iceton, 6 Frankie Townend, 7 Sam Hulme, 8 Emma Wilkinson, 9 Meg Preston, 10 Jess Harrap, 11 Katy Fisher, 12 Kacy Haley, 13 Bethan Oates, 14 Gracie Hobbs, 15 Georgia Hampshaw, 16 Becky Grady, 17 Ellie Thompson, 18 Eva Izumi, 20 Amy Bennett, 21 Faye Barraclough, 22 Skye Jackson, 23 Grace Burnett, 24 Freya Whitehead, 25 Maddy Hutchison, 26 Niamh Luck, 27 Millie Taylor
Rugby League World predicts: 5th
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 508 (May 2025)