Nathan Brown: We all enjoy having these big selection headaches!

Mar 26 2009 by Chris Roberts, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

How pleased were you with the performance against Harlequins?

I thought their coach, Brian McDermott, summed the game up best.

He felt we were good and they were poor, although we did force some of their errors and that contributed to them not playing as well as they have been doing in recent weeks.

Overall, we probably weren’t great, but we were good, which was encouraging.

You’ve got more players coming back from injury this week. Are you someone who believes in changing a winning team?

We’ve certainly had some good headaches this week in terms of team selection.

Everyone came through relatively unscathed against Harlequins and we’ve got three more back this week (Aspinwall, Faiumu and Raleigh), so we’ve got to make some tough selections for the right reasons.

Regarding changing a winning team, some guys earn the right to come straight back into the side when they’re back to full fitness, like Eorl Crabtree, for instance.

He’s been an established player at the club for a number of years now, and he was one of our best players in the two friendlies. That’s why he was back against Harlequins, despite everyone having played so well to win at Castleford the week before.

But, on the other hand, we’ve got other players who are starting from scratch and need to work to earn the right.

In that bracket do you include Larne Patrick and Joe Walsh, who played well against Cas but missed out against Quins?

Yes. They both performed well the other week and made a valuable contribution to that good win.

For Larne, it was obviously his first game in Super League, and he showed he has tremendous potential.

But at this stage of his development – and for other young guys at the club who have just had their first taste of Super League – it’s important they can go back into the lower grades.

There’s no doubt that for players like Larne and Joe their time will come when they’ll become regulars and earn the right to go straight back into the side.

Going back to the fact you’ve got three more players back this week, doesn’t that mean you’ve virtually got a full-strength squad at your disposal?

Apart from Tom Hemingway (broken hand), who’s still a couple of weeks away, everyone in the squad who’s played Super League is fit and available for selection.

The medical staff have been working hard and keeping everyone under the pump.

The strength, conditioning and rehab coaches are doing a great job and clearly deserve recognition for that, although there’s always a touch of luck in not picking up injuries as well.