Luke Robinson is confident his Huddersfield Giants pre-season hooking performance at Halifax is a taste of things to come.
With the arrival of former Castleford Tigers half-back Jamie Ellis, the 30-year-old Huddersfield vice-captain is ready to start Super League XX sharing the No9 role with Shaun Lunt.
Last season’s scrum half made an immediate impact in his new position by ripping Championship club Halifax apart as the Giants stormed to a convincing 38-6 triumph in what’s their only trial test ahead of next Sunday’s top-flight opener at home to Hull FC.
And Robinson can’t wait to start stamping his authority on the hooking role on a more regular basis.
“When Baloo (Giants coach Paul Anderson) told me he wanted to give me a run at hooker, I was more than happy. In fact, I was pretty excited about it,” said Robinson.
“Although I’ve played the past couple of years in the halves, I’d probably have to say one of my best seasons was in 2011 when I was at hooker – Danny Brough and Kevin Brown were the half-backs – and I was named the Giants Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year, and also played at hooker for England in the mid-season Test against the Exiles when I was actually the man-of-the-match.
“That’s why I did jump at the chance to play there again, particularly as it means sharing the workload during games with Lunty.
“I thought there were signs at Halifax of just how effective our partnership could be.
“I enjoyed getting my hands on the ball more often and getting us playing on the front foot from the start, and then Lunty came on to make sure that’s where we stayed.
“For a first run-out I thought the signs looked very positive.”
