To start with, last Sunday’s team did not make mistakes on purpose.

They did not go out onto the pitch with the desire to lose.

However, that performance, as we know and as they know, simply was not good enough.

To prevent the unthinkable from happening, something has to change – if only for certain players to give 100% effort.

Many, many people think there is something going on behind the scenes and are fed-up with the rosy picture being painted publicly. People want to know more.

Another ‘however’. However, the club – along with most fans - does not want to air its dirty washing in the public domain.

But it would be good to have some indication of what is wrong and how it is being tackled.

Having said all that, there is absolutely no excuse for certain foul-mouthed individuals to hurl personal abuse at some of our players.

One player, in particular, was handed a disgraceful tirade. Having a personal opinion and discussing it is one thing. Sunday’s outburst is another.

Such people ought to think twice before attending another game.

Rant over, and back to the original article.

Sam Rapira is a quietly spoken gentle Giant.

Well, not exactly a giant in terms of size – which was one of the questions asked of him at last week’s HGSA meeting at Turnbridge WMC.

Huddersfield Giants' Sam Rapira in action First Utility Super League XXI Huddersfield v St Helens 17/07/16 (Pic by John Rushworth)

“Compared with the vast majority of props, you are quite small. Why did you choose to play in that position?”

Sam replied: “As a youngster, I was always big so I was put at prop. But as I got older I didn’t grow that much, however I stayed at prop because I enjoyed it so much.”.

One questioner tried to press Sam on not only what had gone wrong this season, but why, and how is it now being resolved.

Sam was unsure. “Little things just don’t go right; players perhaps don’t take that extra step to cover a colleague; the ball is passed a split second too soon or too late. It always seems to happen when a club is at a low ebb.”

With regards to two referees in the Australian NRL, Sam said that players get away with absolutely nothing. Even not playing the ball correctly (with the foot) is penalised.

“It is almost impossible to get a hand on the ball (when it is being carried by an opposing player) and strip it away without being caught. Over here it happens quite frequently without the ball-stealer being noticed.”

One member queried the players’ level of fitness. Sam did not see a problem here at this stage of the season: “All the players are match fit”.

In reply to “Was the timing right for removing Paul Anderson, or should he have gone sooner – or later?”, Sam thought that Paul had being doing a good job, but it is results that count, so his sacking was, perhaps, inevitable.

A whole host of other questions were answered by Sam so be sure to not miss out on inside information by becoming a regular at our monthly meetings.

As an aside, one of our members, James Atherton, arrived at the meeting wearing a nifty trilby, which remained on his head until the end of the evening. James then explained that he had had his hair removed as part of Macmillan’s ‘Brave the Shave’ for their cancer support.

Follow the links on our website (www.GiantsSupporters.co.uk) for the Wagstaff Trophy voting form, committee nominations, and a list of prizes for the raffle (incorporating Robbo’s testimonial) or ask for a paper version at Turnbridge WMC.