Ryan Brierley and Kyle Wood could have given Huddersfield Giants chief Paul Anderson food for thought as he plans for Sunday’s home Super League XXI derby clash against Wakefield Trinity.
The Huddersfield boss singled out the key attacking duo for praise in the wake of Friday’s 30-22 John Smith’s Stadium defeat to Castleford Tigers.
Wood started at stand-off in the absence of the injured Danny Brough and impressed when he was switched to hooker later in the game.
That move was made so former Leigh playmaker Brierley could leave the substitutes’ bench and join Jamie Ellis in the halves – and he immediately responded by scoring a try and setting up Jake Connor for another.
Brough was close to featuring against the Tigers, but it was decided on the eve of the game to give him extra time to get over the dead leg he suffered in the loss at Widnes 11 days ago.
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And if the Giants chief feels the 2013 Super League Man of Steel could benefit from an extra week off, he may well consider a potential Brierley-Ellis half-back combination against seventh-placed Wakefield, with Wood and Ryan Hinchcliffe sharing the hooking duties.
“I thought Woody was very good when he went to nine,” said Anderson.
“I also thought Ryan Brierley showed some good touches when he came on in the halves.
“This shows we have good options available to us, and that’s obviously always good to have.
“But whichever way we go, we have to make sure we learn the lessons of what went wrong against Castleford and get back to the way we were playing a couple of weeks ago (when the Giants thrashed St Helens 48-20 at Magic Weekend and had also beaten Leeds twice and Warrington at home).
“I thought the effort was there against Cas, it’s just we’re putting it in the wrong areas, and that’s something we clearly need to address.”
