Lack-lustre Huddersfield Giants have had some bad days at the office in 2016.

And two of the worst have been against Wakefield Trinity.

It was awful at Belle Vue on Good Friday as they slumped to a 36-22 defeat, and it was nearly as bad at the John Smith’s Stadium in this sorry Super League XXI return.

Having said that, there was a general feel about the proceedings that the serious injury to Giants Academy player Ronan Costello, who remains in a critical condition following a challenge in the home Academy game against Salford Red Devils the day before, had understandably had a negative impact on the way they played.

After all, they all knew the teenager well. The players themselves would probably never admit it but, sub-consciously, it was bound to have an effect.

And the tome certainly looked to have been set during a first half that won’t last long in the memory, with the vast majority grateful the hooter had sounded to put them out of their misery and get themselves a coffee to remain awake!

It really was that bad, although the heavy rain that created the slippery conditions didn’t help – handling was difficult from start to finish.

As a result, chances were at a premium, with the fact the only first-half score was a 26th-minute Liam Finn penalty for holding down summing things up perfectly.

Arguably, the Giants did create the slightly better chances.

Huddersfield Giants (2) v Wakefield Wildcats (10) - Sam Rapira.

Michael Lawrence was held up over the tryline in the sixth minute, while Jamie Ellis was desperately unlucky not to touch down a Danny Brough grubber moments later.

Huddersfield did, however, have one early scare when Jermaine McGillvary gathered the ball over the tryline and then lost it to enable Bill Tupou to get a touch.

But the match officials ruled the winger had already grounded the ball and a drop-out was given,

Unfortunately, what had been a promising start from the home side was brought to an end in the wake of Aaron Murphy being forced to leave the field with a horrible injury to his scalp after 13 minutes which caused a reshuffle that resulted in the Giants losing a fair bit of their cohesion.

Huddersfield Giants (2) v Wakefield Wildcats (10) - Danny Brough.

After that, it became something of a uphill struggle, with a Brough 40-20 the only other real highlight.

The start to the second half continued in the same frustrating vein, with the only notable moment early on coming with a challenge by Oliver Roberts being placed on report by rookie referee Michael Woodhead.

However, there was renewed Giants hope in the 51st minute when Brough landed a penalty for holding down to level the scores, although that’s was shortlived with Finn adding his second goal after Huddersfield were caught offside two minutes later.

The hosts suffered a further blow on the hour when Ukuma Ta’ai was forced to leave the field with a nasty head knock.

Huddersfield Giants (2) v Wakefield Wildcats (10) - Danny Brough.

Brough had the chance to level for a second time with 14 minutes remaining but saw a penalty attempt drift fractionally to the left.

And the Giants were made to pay moments later when Finn dabbed through on the sixth tackle for former Huddersfield back-rower Danny Kirmond to get the vital touch for a converted score, although there was more than a slight hint that he was offside.

That made it 10-2 with time rapidly running out – and it proved to be the final nail in the coffin.