A GIANT STEP BACKWARDS
By STEPHEN IBBETSON
THE HOPE
After finishing third in the Super League table in 2022, while coming within three minutes of winning the Challenge Cup, confidence was higher than ever at Huddersfield and so were the pundits' predictions, with some betting on them finishing top of the tree thanks to a signing spree that included Kevin Naiqama and Jake Connor.
THE REALITY
Instead of taking the final step to glory, Huddersfield took a big step backwards.
The early signs weren't all bad, a string of narrow defeats in attritional games suggesting they had it in them to rise up the table once Connor settled into his groove following a pre-season injury.
But in the middle of the season, the Giants collapsed. A run of eight defeats in nine across all competitions -the sole victory against an even poorer Castleford -was highlighted by a 54-0 embarrassment at Leeds, and the job of Ian Watson, who had so impressively brought improvement in 2022, looked untenable.