Demoralised Jermaine McGillvary believes the Huddersfield Giants paid the price for being far too complacent as they slumped to a 24-20 Super League defeat at Widnes Vikings.
Huddersfield looked well placed to build on their recent improvements as they built up a 16-0 lead after 28 minutes against stuttering hosts who had lost their previous eight top-flight fixtures.
But instead of increasing the pressure on the under-pressure Vikings by grinding out the sets and building on last Sunday’s 48-20 Magic Weekend thrashing of St Helens, the Giants invited them back into the game by electing to keep the ball alive.
And England winger McGillvary knows that was a fatal flaw.
“I’d definitely say complacency cost us,” said the 28-year-old.
READ MORE:
“That crept into our game when we went 16-0 up, and we ended up paying the price for it.
“I suppose the fans might enjoy seeing us playing touch and pass, but there’s a time and a place for that, and this wasn’t the time or the place.
“When we built up that lead, we should have played out our sets and kicked deep to make sure we were defending down at their end rather than ours.
“But because we got far too complacent, we went totally away from what was required and allowed them a way back in. We can only blame ourselves for that.
“Obviously, the mood over the past month or so has been a lot more positive.
“But we all know that to make sure we start winning again as quickly as possible, we’ve got to play a load better than this.
“What we served up was simply nowhere near good enough.”
