THE Giants almost produced one of the most remarkable comebacks of Super League XVI.
After being completely hammered in the opening half, and finding themselves lucky to be 22-0 behind and facing a heavier defeat than the 46-12 reverse at Wigan 13 days ago, the Giants came to life after the break.
By the 71st minute they were one score away from hitting back and were beginning to dream, of a hat trick of triumphs over Warrington in 2011.
But in the end they paid the price for failing to find any early spark and were left to reflect on what might have been.
Giants coach Nathan Brown made several slight changes to the line-up which comfortably beat Crusaders 40-12 last time out.
England centre Leroy Cudjoe was named at full-back in place of Gregg McNally, who made a solid debut in the win over the Welsh.
And there was a new second-row partnership, with fit-again Lee Gilmour and Graeme Horne getting the nod to start the contest in the back row.
Having said that, as soon as the game got under way, it was Grix in the No1 position and Michael Lawrence continuing in the back-row after an encouraging show in the pack the week before.
But given the way the opening 40 minutes panned out, it wouldn’t have mattered who played where.
Quite simply, the Giants were blown away by a brutal Warrington display of pace, power and skill.
By the half-way mark the Wolves led 22-0, and no-one could really have complained if it had been 40!
Warrington started strongly, taking the lead after three minutes, and never gave their visitors a sniff.
On not one single first-half occasion did Huddersfield look like scoring, while the hosts grabbed four tries and bombed a number of others.
The signs were ominous straight from the start as Luke O’Donnell spilled the ball on his own 10m line and the ball was swept immediately out to former Giants captain Brett Hodgson to glide over and add the conversion.
And by the sixth minute the in-form inspirational full-back was landing his second goal after his grubber kick had been pounced on superbly by Joel Monaghan..
Only tremendous last-ditch defence from David Hodgson and Jermaine McGillvary prevented Warrington from adding try No3 in the 10th minute.
But that simply delayed the inevitable as they added to their lead after 17 minutes.
Louis Anderson was put through a huge gap and he then slipped the ball back inside to the supporting Richie Myler to finish off in style.
Hodgson again made no mistake with the conversion, but was then roundly booed by the home faithful seven minutes later after failing to add a touchline conversion to Monaghan’s second after good work by Matty Blythe.
For the remainder of the half, the Giants did manage to hold the home side at bay.
The Giants defended solidly at the start of the second half and by the 54th minute were almost remarkably back in the contest.
On their first meaningful attack of the game the Giants influential Scott Grix kicked to the corner for McGillvary to collect.
The winger immediately hacked the ball on for Michael Lawrence to gather and he returned the ball for McGillvary to touch down.
Grix was unable to add the goal but he made no mistake just two minutes later as they added a second try through David Fa’alogo.
Warrington’s kick off went out on the full and the position was created for Robinson to feed Fa’alogo to score from close range.
With a small points deficit Huddersfield were very much alive in the contest and on 71 minutes the visitors were even starting to dream of pulling off a surprise win as Robinson’s grubber was collected under the posts by skipper Kevin Brown to score. Grix’s goal cut the deficit to six points.
Two minutes later Grix’s 40-20 kick put them on the front foot again, but with handling becoming increasingly difficult in the wet weather a golden opportunity went begging.
With three minutes remaining all the hard work and hope was undone as Graeme Horne knocked on deep in his own territory and Anderson took full advantage to cross moments later.
Hodgson landed the goal and it was game over.
