Paul Anderson is hoping to use the anger the Giants are still feeling over their controversial Challenge Cup exit against St Helens to fire them to a morale-boosting Super League victory at Hull FC tonight (8.00).
The Huddersfield chief has admitted his players are hurting over referee Phil Bentham’s decision to rule out Danny Brough’s late drop-goal attempt.
Had Bentham ruled in Brough’s favour, the Giants would have secured a 17-16 fourth-round triumph over unbeaten leaders Saints.
Instead, Luke Walsh slotted over a drop goal of his own a minute later to seal the tie.
And Anderson is hoping to use that bitter experience as a way of bringing the best out of his players at the KC Stadium tonight.
“There’s a lot of anger among the players over what happened,” said Anderson.
“And I want to see us use that anger in a good way and as a positive energy.
“That anger has been vented through something that was out of our control, so we have to make sure we use it as motivation and as an incentive to get in the right frame of mind to go again.
“There were a lot of positives we could take from the way we played against St Helens, and we shouldn’t forget that tonight.
“We need to make sure we take that form with us.”
Anderson is, of course, forced to make changes to his line-up for the clash against the Black and Whites.
Brett Ferres was included in the Giants’ initial 19-man squad before picking up his five-match ban for a dangerous throw during the Saints’ Cup defeat.
His place has now been taken by fellow back-row forward Jacob Fairbank, while Ukuma Ta’ai could take over from Ferres in the final 17 after not being included in Sunday’s squad.
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