THERE are some fans of Huddersfield Giants who believe there is a huge conspiracy afoot in certain rugby league media circles.

These conspiracy theorists, a number of whom I know as they tell me their fears, will have been both angered and elated by what happened on Monday.

The biggest rugby league story of the weekend was Royce Simmons being shown the door by St Helens after their worst ever run in Super League and the instant installation of Giants head coach Nathan Brown as favourite to succeed him – with some reports heavily inferring that Saints could get their man almost straight away.

For Giants fans who are believers in the conspiracy theory, they will have been angered by the fact that yet again their club is cast as mere bit part players in the equation, but elated by the fact that this instance has once again proved their conviction that whatever their club does some people are never going to give them any credit for it.

Given the current state of play in Super League you would have thought that the question one would have to ask is: ‘Why would Nathan Brown leave a team he has created and taken to the top of the table for a bunch of no-marks who are struggling to get a top eight place?’

Instead one of the major news agencies carried the following appraisal: “The former St George Illawarra boss was expected to return to Australia but, with top jobs in the NRL scarce, he will be tempted to stay in Super League if offered what is widely considered to be a glamour post with Saints.”

More grist to mill for the conspiracy theorists as Saints are once again depicted as some sort of sexy and slinky red and white clad Katy Perry, while the Giants bumble along like some claret and gold Nora Batty replete with wrinkled stockings.

And there would seem to be little defence available for those sections of the rugby league media should they wish to refute the charges of the conspiracy theorists.

Only a few weeks ago one of the scant few rugby league television shows started their Super League preview by suggesting that then leaders Warrington were there to be shot at by Leeds, Wigan and Saints – yet no mention of the Giants who were actually the team best placed with points on the board and position in the table to outstrip the Wolves.

A couple of rounds later and it is the supposedly ‘down at heel’ Giants who are riding high on top of the table, while those glamour pusses from Langtree Park are having to sack their coach.

While I have yet to hear or read any rugby league pundit actually express the following, you get the feeling that ‘those in the know’ expect the Giants tenure at the top to be fleeting and that these upstarts will return to their proper place in the pecking order before too long.

It seems strange that given Huddersfield’s steady progress under first Jon Sharp, which included a Challenge Cup final trip and a first shot at the Super League play-offs, and then Brown, who booked a Wembley trip and who has made the club pretty much top five fixtures in the past two seasons, that some observers still seem to find it hard to take on board the fact that the Giants might actually be a good outfit who are here to stay.

I am sure that those behind the scenes at the Giants will not be shy of using such examples to get the players fired up to prove their detractors wrong.

And while I might be a fan of one of the Giants nearest Yorkshire rivals, I for one would like to see Nathan and his team stay on top all season and make a few people have to eat some humble pie.