THE HUDDERSFIELD GIants remained top of Super League after Luke George again ran riot at the Galpharm Stadium scoring a hat trick to help destroy Castleford Tigers.

In just four home appearances for his hometown club the in-form winger grabbed an amazing third hat trick to prove what a fantastic close signing he has been from Wakefield Trinity Wildcats.

However, George will be the first to admit that most of his try-scoring exploits are produced off the back of excellent work by his colleagues in the middle of the field.

But, at the same time, the finishing of the 24-year-old has to be admired as his efforts brought Huddersfield their sixth win from seven top flight starts.

With George back in the starting line-up after being rested last week against former club Wakefield, and with Luke Robinson having recovered from illness, the Giants had far more of an attacking edge – although it did take the hosts a while to hit their top form.

To say the opening 10 minutes were scrappy would be an understatement with both sides failing to make any sort of positive impression.

But once the Giants got going it proved hard to stop their momentum with the refreshed George scoring his first try after 11 minutes.

Smart work from skipper Kevin Brown and Michael Lawrence helped release the winger on this own 40 metre line and the intelligent George chipped over on-rushing Tigers full back Richard Owen and re-gathered to score in the corner.

Four minutes later the Giants added try number two when half back Scott Grix’s pass allowed former Castleford player Greg Eden to split the visitors defence and score with relative ease.

Danny Brough was off target with both goal attempts for the first two tries, but made no mistake with his third effort after Joe Wardle showed great strength to crash through some suspect Tigers tackling and touchdown to make it 14-0 after 23 minutes.

At that stage Castleford were struggling but thanks to some flat Giants play and some sympathetic penalty calls from referee Steve Ganson, the visitors were handed a lifeline when Nick Youngquest squeezed in for an unconverted try in the corner.

To add to Huddersfield’s unease Jason Chan was sin-binned and placed on report for an alleged dangerous tackle, although the home fans needn’t have worried.

Within two minutes Larne Patrick put in another early claim for try of the season – after his opening day effort in the win at Wigan – by collecting a pass on halfway and nipping between two defenders before racing through and past a final opponent with an incredibly fast and explosive charge to the line.

Brough again goaled and added his third two minutes later when captain Brown kicked perfectly to the corner for George to gather and finish in style to make it 26-4 at half-time.

This exciting brand of attacking rugby continued in the second half with two tries in the opening three minutes.

Within 40 seconds James Clare spilled the ball under the weight of a Brown tackle and David Faiumu picked up the pieces and put George in for his hat trick.

Two minutes later George turned provider feeding Brown to finish off after the captain’s superb pass had initially sent the winger clear.

Brown almost put George in for a fourth touchdown but after taking a knock moments later the winger was withdrawn as a precaution.

That loss was not immediately felt as Jermaine McGillvary 70th minute burst set up the position for Lawrence to crash over the line and touchdown and Brough added the extras to make it 42-4.

With Giants head coach Nathan Brown rotating his squad to keep them fresh for next week’s challenge at Hull KR, Huddersfield lost their momentum in the final quarter and failed to add to the tally – but it was still a job well done as the Giants maintained their standing as the best in the league.