Huddersfield Giants coach Paul Anderson has made it clear the Giants won’t be celebrating if they beat Warrington in Sunday’s Tetley’s Challenge Cup clash at the Halliwell Jones Stadium – because they’ve not lifted a trophy.
Huddersfield face a massive test to reach the last four of rugby league’s most famous knock-out competition, with Tony Smith’s Wolves having already completed a Super League double over his former club.
With a win on Sunday (4.15) taking the victors to within a game of a Wembley final appearance, the stakes couldn’t be much higher.
But coach Anderson knows that a win this weekend would still be far too early to start getting carried away.
“Our season could obviously have been going a lot worse,” said Anderson. “We’re still in a strong position in second place in the Super League table and are about to play a Challenge Cup quarter-final tie.
“And we’re going to Warrington having completed the double over Hull, which is no mean feat. But no-one at the Giants is getting carried away, and a win at Warrington on Sunday would change nothing in that respect.
“We’d obviously love to go there and win, but it certainly wouldn’t be a cause for mass celebration, because we haven’t won anything yet.
“As far as I’m concerned, I don’t have that much to smile about at the moment, because we’re still far from being perfect and need to work much harder to keep on improving.
“You’ll only see me with a proper smile on my face if we’re lifting a trophy, and that’s still a long way from being achieved.”
All those who played against Hull have emerged injury-free and will be available for selection on Sunday, including Luke Robinson, who suffered a bout of concussion during the Hull game when he was caught by a challenge from Gareth Ellis.
As a result, the England back-row forward was ordered to appear in front of disciplinary chiefs to answer a Grade B charge of striking, but was last night found not guilty.