The Giants didn’t have a slew of star names on Easter Monday when Watson made seven changes for the second of four games in two weeks.
Watson spoke in the build up about showing the quality of the squad and felt Huddersfield did exactly that in the absence of the likes of Ricky Leutele, Theo Fages and Chris Hill.
“It was a good game for us,” Watson said after the 24-12 loss.
“I’ll probably prove a few things to the group about how good the depth force is here now.
“We have to have a lot of confidence in that. There were little things that the champion teams do to be able to get the result.”
“We have to learn that and learn faster, but if you look at where we’ve come from 12 months ago to now, we’re a completely different proposition.”
“We need to make sure we continue to build on that to get to where we want to be.”
Monday’s game was a chance for the Giants to prove their title credentials, but Watson is determined to play the long game.
“It’s important that we did it,” he added.
“What we don’t want to do is break players and what we want is for Huddersfield to be a good team in the long term and constantly challenge.
“We know we have some quality players here, but some of them are a bit older and we have to make sure we take care of them the right way.”
“Putting them here today and maybe getting the win against St Helens, but maybe losing them for three or four weeks after that won’t help our cause one bit.
“We think the guys downstairs are good enough to step up and they’ve done a really good job today and raised their hands to be on the team in the future.”
The Giants face another quick turnaround with a trip to Warrington Wolves next Saturday before a date with Wakefield Trinity at Belle Vue next Thursday.
Watson insisted that he would make the same changes if he had his time again.
“It takes a lot out of you physically,” he said of the Easter games.
“Usually it’s not this time here when you feel it; it’s next week and next week and next week.
“That’s why we made changes today to try to be a little bit smarter and take care of our players.
“I don’t regret it at all. I thought the guys that came out did an outstanding job.”
“The saints are on a different level and we have to learn about that.”
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Source: www.yorkshirepost.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-04-18 17:16:48
