JIM LENIHAN believes his Huddersfield Giants have firmly “turned a corner” after a second successive victory.
Huddersfield earned their first win under the Australian coach against York Knights last Saturday, and backed that up five days later with a 22-16 home success against Hull FC.
“It was good to win a game when we didn’t play well,” assessed Lenihan.
“We started the game well. Midway through the first half the game got a bit messy, and in the back end of the first half we struggled defensively and missed a heap of tackles. Half-time came at a good time for us to address that.
“Then I thought in the second half we had a bit more control, and the best part is we had some belief to find a way through at the end.
“We’ve probably had better games this year and lost, but for us to persevere, find a way and find some belief in ourselves is good.
“It (the belief) has been building for a little while. We’re getting there. In the last two weeks I’m really happy for the boys to get some wins, feel good and know that the hard work is worth it.
“We’re hardly a team flying, but we’re a team that has turned a corner. We’re competing harder now and we’re playing the style of football we want to keep improving on.”
Lenihan has placed a high value on Huddersfield’s fitness, and he added: “We’ve gone into games underdone and at times in the game we’ve bottomed out. There’s no doubt you can see physically we’re getting better. Our physicality is improving.
“We’re not playing perfect footy but we’ve got a group that is starting to believe in each other, and believe that if they keep persisting with where they’re going, they can keep getting better.”
Lenihan had particular praise for loose-forward Harry Rushton, who delivered a second man-of-the-match display in succession.
“He’s been fantastic for us,” said the coach. “He’s our captain. He does talk well, but his greatest leadership is his physicality. He leads well with his actions.
“He’s really been the pivotal point of our change. He’s the guy who gets over the advantage line and works really hard at running into their forwards, getting on the ground and playing the ball quickly.
“We’re a side that never really valued that too much, but Harry has taken that identity on and is doing a really good job of it.”