You returned to winning ways  with victory over Castleford  Tigers last weekend, but now  face a weekend off. Is that the  last thing the boys need right  now in terms of trying to build  some momentum for your final  Super League XVIII title  push?

Judging by the events of Sunday, it’s  probably what we do need!

Obviously, we’d have preferred to be  playing this weekend in the semi-final  of the Challenge Cup, but that wasn’t  to be.

So we’ve got to make sure we make  the most of this extra preparation time  for Super League we’ve been given.

It gives us the chance to reinforce  some things and re-focus on getting  the little things right that we know we  have to do well in order to achieve our  goal of finishing top of the table. It’s  clear there’s a lot of work to do in that  particular area.

Straight after the Castleford game ,  it wasn’t a case of  ‘see you tomorrow,  enjoy your break and see you next  week’.

It’s been a normal week of training,  and a week that’ll be good for us in  terms of practice.

Yes, we’ll have the weekend off, but  that’s as far as it goes.

Everything is geared up to making  sure we’re as prepared as well as we  possibly can be for our next game at  home to Salford City Reds next  Sunday.

And how are the boys,  fitness-wise, after the  Castleford game?

There were the normal bumps and  bruises, but nothing major to worry  about.

But there were one or two badly  bruised egos after we’d finished with  them in the post-match review!

I said straight after the win over Castleford that I thought our  second-half performance was  ‘disgraceful ’, and that was  re-emphasised to the squad on  Monday.

The initial response to our  Challenge Cup defeat at Warrington  the week before was exactly what we’d  hoped. You’ve got to be fairly happy  when you’re leading 36-4 at  half-time.

But to then come up with what they  did after the interval was totally  unacceptable.

No-one is prepared to tolerate a  repeat of that.

For this stage of the season,  would you say the overall  health of the squad is good?

Yes, I would.

As everyone knows, injuries are  part and parcel of our game, and it’s  very rare to be able to pick from a  fully-fit squad.

A lot of people have been saying  how fortunate we’ve been on the  injury-front this season and we’ve not  suffered as badly as other clubs.

But it shouldn’t be forgotten that  we’ve been without two of our most  experienced forwards for much of the  season.

Jason Chan has played only a  handful of games because of a knee  and bicep injury, while Stuart Fielden   has been sidelined for far longer than  anyone had anticipated following  knee surgery. The infection he picked  up after his operation was a lot nastier  than was initially feared.

On top of that, Michael Lawrence  has also had an injury-hit year, while  it’s taken Ukuma Ta’ai over  half-a-season to get his fitness up to  scratch after the delays in getting his  work permit processed.

But all four examples are, to be  honest, issues that have been out of  our control. The injuries that have  been suffered have been freak, and  no-one can ever legislate for red  tape!

And, again, I think it’s only right to  praise our medical staff for keeping  the players in such excellent physical  shape.

Our physios, Dave O’Sullivan,  Darragh Sheehy and Jess Marshall,  club doctor Amit Pannu, conditioner  Greg Brown and rehab conditioner  Matt Green have been brilliant for the  club. The players may take all the  credit, but without such a great  medical team in the background,  there’s no way they can be such  effective Super League players.

Dave and Darragh arrived at the  club for the start of this season, and  I’d have to say they’re two of the best  signings we’ve made.

We were always confident we’d got  hold of the right men, because they’d  come to us with big reputations. We  were right.

The Giants are, of course, top  of Super League as a result of  Wigan’s failure to beat St  Helens at Langtree Park the  other night. Did you enjoy the  game?

Yes, it was a good one, wasn’t it?

I wasn’t really thinking too much  about the fact we’d be top if Saints  won – it’s where we finish after the  final five rounds of the regular season  that concerns me.

I just sat down to watch what I  always thought would be a good  game, and that’s exactly what it was.

Saints played with a lot of purpose,  got straight into the faces of Wigan  and finished up getting the result their  efforts deserved.

Obviously, it was a good result for  us, but because there’s still a lot of  water still to flow under the bridge it  certainly wasn’t a cause for mass  celebration!

And do you intend watching  the Wigan-London,  Hull-Warrington semi-finals  this weekend?

Don’t know yet.

Taking a complete break from the  rugby league may do me a power of  good.

Like players, coaches need to  re-charge their batteries when they get  the chance, and a weekend break  could do a power of good.

We’re about to embark on a  five-match Super League programme  that will result in us lifting the League  Leaders Shield if we win all five.

To start this mini season feeling  fresh and with a new spring in all our  steps could make all the difference in  the world.

Having said that, I’m still very  interested in the two Cup games,  because they involve our two title  rivals in Wigan and Warrington.

So, if I do end up watching, my  main hope is that we see two very  physical encounters with the players  knocking lumps out of each other!

I obviously don’t want to see any  player suffering a serious injury. I’d  never wish that on any opponent.

But if the ties do prove to be  physically-draining affairs, that’ll suit  me fine.

However, a the end of the day, it’s all  about us and what happens to Wigan  and Warrington is out of our control.

Between now and the end of the  season, it’s all about us.

As I said, if we win our last five  games of the regular season we’ll be  minor premiers, and there’s nothing  anyone can do about that.