Huddersfield Giants head coach Paul Anderson admits he is possibly experiencing his toughest time as a coach, but is relishing the challenge of proving people wrong again in 2014.
After finishing as the league leaders in 2013, Anderson’s men have struggled to find their best form so far this season, and they currently sit eighth ahead of this Thursday’s televised clash against Hull FC. However, despite their inconsistencies, Anderson is relishing the challenge to prove the doubters wrong – with the Giants boss claiming they need to solely focus on their own game to succeed.
“There’s a good challenge for us again this year, and that’s what we want. The only thing I’m in control of is this club, and individuals are in control of themselves and what they contribute to the team,” Anderson said.
“That’s all we’ve got to worry about; if we worry about the opposition then we won’t do anything. We put pressure on ourselves internally and the rest of the world can write us off if they want, I don’t care.
“It’s a good challenge for us. In 20 years time if I’m still doing this we’ll be able to say “remember in 2014 when we didn’t start so well?”. We’ve got a good group, and there’s no issues with anyone panicking about how things are going, we’ve just to get some good repetition in practice and get out there and do some big things.”
After losing Joe Wardle for a month recently, Anderson’s injury situation was further deepened last week with the news that England centre Leroy Cudjoe would be out for up to six weeks with an ankle injury. However, the Giants head coach backed Cudjoe to come back stronger from the blow, which he labelled as “disappointing”.
“The news on Leroy is not good, he’s suffered an ankle sprain. We’re looking at him being out for between four to six weeks, which is disappointing for us and for him.
“As you can imagine, it’s come as a blow for him, but he’s a fit, athletic young man who we all know will do the right thing to make sure he gets back onto the field as soon as he possibly can.”
Meanwhile, Giants forward David Faiumu believes the squad are currently beating themselves mentally this season, echoing Anderson’s comments that they need to focus on their own game rather than everyone else’s.
“It’s clear a lot of us in the team, myself included, are not turning up and doing our roles to the best of our ability. That’s a mental thing,” Faiumu claimed.
“The opening rounds have been tough, but it’s early days, and we know we’re still good enough to bounce back and have a major say this season.
“We need to get back to focusing 100% on our own games and making sure we do that for the benefit of the team. If we do that, then we know everything will fall back into place and the wins will start coming regularly once again.”
