JIM LENIHAN was glad to give a bumper crowd a show as his Huddersfield Giants marked their upcoming move to Dewsbury with a dominant victory over Catalans Dragons.
Huddersfield led 36-0 when the half-time announcement was made that the FLAIR Stadium will be their home from next season.
While they lost the second half, coach Lenihan said: “If someone offered me 42-20 before kick-off, I’d have certainly taken it.
“I’m really happy – three weeks ago (people said) we weren’t going to win another game, and now we’ve won three in a row which is nice, but we’ve still got a lot to do.
“We probably didn’t come out in the second half. Once the game was put to bed, we struggled to keep in contact, which is more mental than anything.
“But I’m so happy for the guys that all the work they’re putting in away from everyone is being shown on gameday when they get the recognition.”
Their biggest league win of the season was played out in front of 8,934 thanks to free entry for all supporters.
Lenihan said of the Dewsbury news: “I think it’s fantastic. It’s a great move for all of us.
“The club is working hard off the field, and it’s nice that we are working hard on the field which is where we best advertise the club.
“I’ve said since I first turned up here that it’s really important to me, and the club, that we are a team which represents our community and which they’re proud of.
“If we represent a hard-working community, we want to be a hard-working football team. That’s what they want to see on the weekend.
“The start of the game was really good, we were physical. It’s been a change not just physically but also mentally here, and while the second half was maybe disappointing for the crowd, we gave them what they wanted.”
Huddersfield welcomed Adam Clune and Sam Halsall back into their side after long-term hamstring and Achilles injuries respectively.
Clune led the side well from halfback and set up one of winger Halsall’s two tries.
“Adam is one of those players who makes everyone a better player,” said Lenihan.
“Regardless of how much he’s touching the ball, his communication and game management is really good for everyone else.
“Then he adds touches of class like for Sam Halsall’s second try. He’ll get better with every game he plays.
“We scored three tries through defence today, which was really important. We scored an intercept off Sam, an intercept off Wrenchy (Connor Wrench), and the fumble when (Lewis) Jagger passed it back inside for Wrenchy to score.
“We’ve worked hard on our edge defence – we’re working eternally hard on our D – but to score three through defence is really good.”