It's getting serious, VERY serious.

After tomorrow’s clash at Warrington Wolves, which will determine whether Huddersfield Giants finish bottom or second bottom – Leeds’ 24-20 victory at leave the Robins in shooting range – at the end of the regular Super League season, new head coach Rick Stone’s men can get ready for their Middle 8s challenge.

Win at Warrington and the Giants will finish 11th ahead of Hull KR because on points difference, or lose and finish at the bottom of the pile.

They’ll then be playing seven Middle 8s qualifying fixtures, with the sole intention of finishing in the top three of the mini eight-team league and immediately guaranteeing their Super League survival for 2017.

Their hopes of avoiding relegation will still remain if they finish fourth or fifth, although that would mean having to triumph in the dreaded one-off million-pound game, with the fourth-placed club gaining home advantage in the battle to secure that 12th and final Super League spot for next season.

Despite such a wretched 2016, Huddersfield still look far too good to go down.

LOOK at the Giants' season so far in pictures below

Had they not suffered such a disruptive pre-season and been forced to compete with a crippling injury list for much of this top-flight campaign, they would surely have now been planning for a Super 8s assault rather than preparing to scrap in the Middle 8s for their Super League lives.

But that’s the harsh reality ahead of the Giants as they prepare for two of their most important months in decades.

In vastly-experienced Australian Stone, Huddersfield clearly have a new head coach capable of plotting a successful survival path, particularly as he could be about to draw up battle-plans with the strongest Giants squad of the season. With injuries no longer biting hard, he could have all of his big guns at his disposal.

Having said that, his Middle 8s Super League rivals aren’t shaping up too badly, either.

Like the Giants, Leeds Rhinos are now getting back to somewhere near full strength and their performances have predictably improved, while on their day Salford Red Devils and Hull KR remain capable of beating anyone.

Salford Red Devils' Justin Carney is halted by Huddersfield Giants' Leroy Cudjoe and Ukuma Ta'ai First Utility Super League XXI Salford v Huddersfield 17/06/16 (Pic by John Rushworth)

To avoid being involved in the million-pound game, one of these teams will have to be beaten, as well as the top-four Kingstone Press Championship clubs who’ll be making up the Middle 8s.

None of this can be taken for granted, although it would still take something pretty extraordinary for the Giants to be beaten by one of the non-Super League sides. The gap between the top flight and the Championship does seem as big as ever.

But in a one-off game and with all the pressure on the current members of the Super League set – in comparison the Championship clubs have little to lose – nothing can be taken for granted.

Super League survival by the end of September is certainly no divine right - and the stark reality of Middle 8s failure is something that can’t be overlooked.

If the unthinkable were to happen and the Giants were to lose their Super League status, just consider the gut-wrenching potential consequences.

Overnight, everything would change.

The squad could disintegrate, with the players currently on Super League contracts and many of them desperate to maintain a career in the top-flight, and the future of new and highly-respected head coach Stone thrown into immediate doubt.

And what about the club’s junior set-up that over the past decade has been built up so pain-stakingly and is now producing top-quality junior players on a regular basis? All that hard work could potentially go to waste, as too could the work of the club’s community development staff.

On top of that, the future of so many of those who work in the office would be thrown into jeopardy – the staff who work tirelessly behind the scenes to make sure the Giants’ operation work smoothly and effectively.

All this would be in doubt because of the potential financial implications of going down.

That’s why the one-off encounter which decides the 12th and final member of the Super League elite is called the ‘million-pound game’ – that’s the difference between being in Super League or not.

So it’s clear that if the Giants were to be relegated, there would be around £1m less at their disposal – and that would clearly hit every part of the organisation.

Examiner pride of Huddersfield awards: Ken Davy

With far less money from Sky TV (the Super League’s £1.8m central pool would vanish and replaced by a nominal amount for te Championship clubs) and in sponsorship, it wouldn’t be fair for chairman Ken Davy to have to pick up all the pieces once again.

There would be a reasonable chance the Giants would remain a full-time operation if they went down – although some cuts would clearly have to be made – but no-one with the Giants at heart wants to be contemplating that particular scenario.

All the thought should be about getting behind the Giants right now – you could say it’s in their hour of need – by backing them at Warrington this afternoon and then throughout the Middle 8s to guarantee the Giants retain their Super League status in emphatic fashion.

When the stakes have never been higher, let’s see everyone pull together more than ever before – the Super League survival of Huddersfield Giants depends on it!