LUKE ROBINSON has been taking Huddersfield back to class to make up for a lack of fit players at the start of pre-season.
Preparing for a first full campaign as Giants’ head coach, Robinson is looking to implement his own ideas and make the team a more potent force, especially in attack.
But he has been forced to do much of that work indoors so far because of an injury list that left him with only seven first-team players in their first field session.
“There’s been a hangover from last year. We had a lot of lads with three- or four-month injuries at the end, or had to go in for operations,” said Robinson.
“It’s been stop-start with that, new players only just coming in, and a few played international rugby, so came in later. It’s been a different pre-season so far.”
However, with the exception of new signing George King’s long-term ankle injury, Huddersfield hope to have every player fit for the start of the season.
“Five or six lads are just re-integrating back into the squad now,” Robinson said shortly before Christmas.
“Although they’ve missed pre-season, they should be good for the start of the pre-season games.
“We start against Bradford (on January 18) and I’m hoping to have a full squad to pick from by then.
“It’s been a disruptive pre-season but fingers crossed we’ll all be firing and ready to go when the season starts.”
In the meantime, Robinson has been trying to get his ideas across as he bids to improve on Huddersfield’s successive ninth-place finishes.
He added: “You take little bits from each coach. Some things you’d like to change, other things you think ‘that’s a good idea’. I’ve got my own style, which I think will suit us best.
“It makes it more difficult when they’re not actually on the training field. We’ve been doing more education through video in classroom sessions rather than on the field.
“It’ll be nice, particularly in January when we go to Malaga for warm-weather training, to have everybody on the field.”
