Huddersfield Giants coach Paul Anderson will be hoping Jacob Fairbank is thrown in at the deep end at the start of his loan spell at Halifax.

The 24-year-old back-row forward has joined his hometown club for the next month in a bid to get some much-needed gametime under his belt.

The weather-hit pre-season meant the former Elland junior has yet to play a competitive game.

He was ready to start at loose-forward in the trial clash at Bradford Bulls, which was cancelled at the last minute due to a frozen pitch, and may also have featured in a second trial clash at Wakefield, which also fell victim to the icy winter blast.

That lack of match fitness could count against Fairbank when Halifax head coach Richard Marshall selects his 17 for his club’s massive opening home Kingstone Press Championship clash against reigning champions Leigh Centurions on Sunday, particularly as the men from The Shay secured an excellent 44-16 win at Whitehaven in round one.

But Anderson obviously hopes his player gets the chance to impress sooner rather than later and can build on a first loan spell at Halifax four years ago when he helped them reach the Northern Rail Cup final, ironically losing to weekend opponents Leigh in the last seconds of the game.

“The call on whether he’ll play this weekend is obviously down to Richard,” said Anderson.

“But I know that after their excellent win up in Cumbria, it could be a bit difficult bringing Bobby in, even if he is a Super League player.

“I’d love Bobby to play this weekend, because he really does need to be playing, and it’s through no fault of his own that he hasn’t.

“He’s had a real, real big pre-season, and it’s also been his first for a while due to injuries.

“As a result, we were all looking forward to seeing what he could do.

“He’d been rewarded with his efforts with a starting spot in our planned game at Bradford to give him an opportunity to show us what he could do, and that was then taken away from him.

“Unfortunately, our second trial game at Halifax was more about preparing ourselves for the start of the Super League season, and with a couple of blokes ahead of him, it meant he missed out.

“Hopefully, he won’t have to wait too long now to get the chance to impress.”