Cautious Huddersfield Giants coach Paul Anderson has seen enough from Wakefield under new boss Brian Smith to know they could provide a genuine Super League threat.

Huddersfield are red-hot favourites to win Sunday’s West Yorkshire derby battle at the John Smith’s Stadium and secure a top-four finish for the Super 8s.

While the Giants warmed up for the clash with a hard-fought 14-12 triumph at Catalans Dragon to make it 12 wins and two draws from their 22 top-flight fixtures, the bottom-of-the-table Wildcats were being hammered 50-20 at home to Castleford in slipping to their 19th defeat of the campaign.

But those differing 2015 fortunes are something that means little to Anderson, particularly as the Wildcats have this week boosted their squad with the arrival of experienced utility backs Lee Smith and Bill Tupou.

“It doesn’t matter who we’re up against. I just want us to go out there, play to our potential and get the two League points, particularly as we need to win to guarantee fourth place,” declared Anderson.

“Because you carry your League points over into the Super 8s, these two this weekend could prove vitally important for later in the season. The closer you are to the teams at the top, the better chance you have to catch them and book a play-off semi-final spot.

“And we also need to build on last week’s win in France and maintain our winning momentum.

“It really is another very important game for us, although we know Wakefield won’t be worrying about that.

“Because I spent a bit of time spying on Daniel Smith before I decided to bring him here, I’ve seen a lot of Wakefield over the past few weeks. I also went to watch their home game against Castleford on Sunday (because he didn’t travel to France due to a close family illness).

“And they’ve got a lot of grit in them.

“Although the final scoreline at the weekend blew out in the end, Cas had a purple patch for 10 to 15 minutes when they score a vast amount of points.

“Apart from that, Wakefield were pretty good and the first 20 to 25 minutes was all about them.

“Brian Smith (the Wakefield coach who took over just under two months ago) has come in and brought people in to increase the competition for places.

“So, to be honest, we don’t really know who will be playing for them this weekend, which creates an extra problem for them.

“But it’s obviously our intention to give them a lot more problems than they give us.”

And Anderson knows that under the vastly-experienced Smith, a side under his command can never be taken for granted.

“You don’t coach some of the top Australian NRL clubs and if you haven’t got something about you,” added Anderson.

“I was lucky enough to travel to Australia in 2012 when I was the assistant coach at the Giants to take a look at how some of the NRL clubs operate, and one of my weeks was spent with Brian at Sydney Roosters.

“He was fantastic. He asked me what I wanted out of my visit, and was only too happy to help in whatever way he could, so I’ll always be thankful to him for that opportunity.

“During that time, I really appreciated how good a coach he was, and I know he has the ability to turn Wakefield’s season around.

“He’s certainly capable of bringing the very best out of his squad this weekend and making sure his players don’t make it easy for us.”