This article originally appeared in Monday’s League Express. Why wait until next weekend to read this week’s stories? In just a few clicks you can read League Express when it comes out each and every Sunday night by clicking here.
Huddersfield Giants winger Jermaine McGillvary insists the upcoming Qualifiers provides the players with an opportunity to put smiles on people’s faces again, but he admits they are fighting to save their jobs.
The Giants begin their campaign against Salford on Sunday, looking for their first win under coach Rick Stone and a nerve-settling win in week one of the Qualifiers.
And McGillvary told League Express that they will be aiming to earn a place back in Super League in style, not by simply limping over the line to safety.
“We’ll aim to win them all; people have said win five and you’re safe, but we don’t want to scrape in there, we want to go into these Qualifiers and make a huge impact on proceedings,” he said.
“It’s a second chance to put some smiles on people’s faces, save our jobs and more, so we’ll be doing our best to put things right.”
Despite having suffered a quad muscle injury of late, McGillvary insists he is seeing improvement from the Giants under Stone’s tutelage.
“He’s tried to instil a real work ethic in us,” he said. “He doesn’t feel we’ve been working hard enough, which is a fair comment because he’s looking from the outside in, and you don’t finish at the bottom of the table for no reason.
“He’s a really smart guy. It’s hard to fix things up in a short space of time, but he’s working so hard to put things right.”
McGillvary admits he is hoping to be back to full fitness in time to face Salford but he insists he will not rush his recovery. The winger also said any talk of England, after making his debut in last year’s Test series against New Zealand, is at the back of his mind as he aims to finish the season on a high with the Giants.
“There’s no timeline on the injury as I don’t want to put pressure on myself; I don’t want to go out there and get a setback and have my season over and done with.
“I’ll try to get back for the first game but if not the second or third one is a realistic target. “I need to worry about Huddersfield and I’ll focus on England afterwards.
“It’s not been a great year, so I’m not sure if I’ll be back in that fold, but hopefully I’ll get a chance to show what I can do again. I need to worry about saving my job with my team-mates.”
This article originally appeared in Monday’s League Express. Why wait until next weekend to read this week’s stories? In just a few clicks you can read League Express when it comes out each and every Sunday night by clicking here.
