Huddersfield Giants managing director Richard Thewlis believes the club is well positioned to make significant progress in the coming years after the achievement of reaching the Betfred Challenge Cup Final.
And he is hoping to see an upsurge of support in the second half of the season after the confirmation of half-season-ticket deals after their impressive showing at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
However, Thewlis is sceptical about how easy it will be to attract significant numbers of Huddersfield Town football fans after their team also lost in London in the Championship play-off final, missing out on promotion to the Premier League.
“We didn’t get a spike in sales for our final after Town beat Luton in their play-off semi-final,” he said.
“Generally in towns with both football and Rugby League clubs, there doesn’t seem to be an enormous crossover in support.”
Thewlis is also conscious of the false starts the club has had from previous occasions when they have reached the Challenge Cup Final, in 2006 and 2009, when they were beaten by St Helens and Warrington respectively.
“You might have said we would kick on in 2009, but we didn’t have success again until 2013, when we won the League Leaders’ Shield,” he added.
“We have to try to keep this group of players together as long as we can under Ian Watson’s leadership. If we do that, then we can achieve whatever the players want to achieve.
“The vast majority of our squad have their best years in front of them.
“The Challenge Cup was a fantastic, brilliant day which was played in the best stadium I’ve ever been in.
“Having experienced it, we all want to do it again, and our focus now turns to Old Trafford (and the Super League Grand Final).”
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