AMBITIOUS Halifax chairman Michael Steele believes a rock-solid performance against the Giants will do wonders for his club’s bid to earn a Super League franchise.
And he is not ruling out seeing his side’s performance result in a shock Challenge Cup triumph!
“This is a local derby and against one of the Super League clubs we’d love to beat!,” said Steele.
“We’re happy with the underdog tag because it means all the pressure will be on Huddersfield.
“It’s no secret we’ve put a bid in for a Super League franchise, and while a Challenge Cup game on Sunday won’t have a direct influence on the outcome, a win over Huddersfield would certainly put down a positive marker.
“It would prove we have a team that would be good enough to compete at Super League level.
“Personally, I’m delighted about the draw and we know we couldn’t be approaching the tie in a much better shape.
“Our confidence is high, and the way we performed against Melbourne Storm in their World Club Challenge warm-up has only added to that.
“We lost 26-10, but I’m sure the Giants wouldn’t have done any better than us!”
There’s added spice to Sunday’s tie with so many former Giants now in the Halifax ranks.
Paul Smith, Lee Greenwood, Sean Penkywicz (left) and Graham Holroyd have all worn the claret and gold, while Frank Watene is a former Giants community development officer.
On top of that, their coach is another former Giants player, Matt Calland.
But there are injury question marks over Penkywicz (wrist) and Holroyd (ankle), while hooker Janan Billings is Cup-tied having played for Mayfield in an earlier round.
