Has having last week off had the desired effect in terms of freshening everyone up?

It’s always good to get a break, because it does help to recuperate and re-energise everyone.

That’s been reflected in the quality of work everyone’s been putting in during training so far this week.

Obviously, working in the good weather has also helped in terms of getting quality sessions under our belt.

When the sun’s shining everyone’s in a good mood, and hopefully that will manifest itself into better games of rugby league.

All being well, we’ll see that with the performance we produce at home to Hull KR on Sunday.

It’s pretty clear from the way everyone’s been training that they’re all looking forward to getting back out there this weekend.

How good a shape would you say the squad is in for this time of the year?

We’re in pretty good shape, to be honest.

Apart from Chris Bailey and Josh Johnson – and the suspended Brett Ferres – everyone should be available for this weekend.

Aaron Murphy wasn’t risked at Widnes the other week following his knee injury, but he’s trained well this week and is back in contention

And Bails (torn bicep) and Josh (damaged ankle) are not too far away.

Bails is no back on the field running, although he’s not yet joined in with the team sessions.

But I’d say in the next week or two when he’s got through his contact progressions we’ll look to integrate him back into the squad.

Josh is also working hard in the gym, and he’s also a couple of weeks off a return.

It was announced this week that Jared Simpson had been dominated for the Super League Player of the Month. How pleased is the club about that, and do you feel all this praise could got to his head?

We ‘re absolutely delighted for him.

In fact, we’re delighted for everyone who’s part of the club’s youth system and has played a part in Jared’s development.

Ken (Davy) is exceptionally keen on investing in youth and developing the top English talent, and Jared Simpson is a massive success story in that respect.

And he’s certainly not the type of player who will let all this recent success go to his head.

He’s a very humble young man who really appreciates what he’s got and the opportunity he’s been given.

He has been fantastic in the games he’s played, and as long as he keeps his head down, keeps on improving and continues to build on his performances, then it’s going to be difficult to shift him from the position.

Jared obviously came in when Scott Grix was suspended. So how’s Grixy reacted to not getting his place back?

He’s a professional is Grixy, and understands Jared has come in and taken his opportunity exceptionally well.

It goes without saying that Grixy wants to get his place back, but that still hasn’t stopped him being great with Jared.

He’s still helping him as much as he can, and there always competing with each other in training, which is very good to see.

It’s also good to see how Grixy’s response to missing out on a place is to keep his head down in training and continue to do the right thing.

And that’s what you’d always expect from him.

Finally. Although the Giants’ main aim is to secure a top-four finish, how much is everyone aware that a win over Hull KR would virtually guarantee a place in the Super 8s with three games of the regular season remaining?

Obviously, we want to be in the top eight rather than in the bottom four.

But we’re not happy just to say we’re in that top eight. We want to finish as high up the table as possible.

Our main focus this weekend is to beat Hull KR to make sure we keep hold of fourth place with three games left, especially as Castleford are continuing to breathe down our necks.

We know the higher we finish, the more chance we’ve got our reaching our first Super League Grand Final, and that remains our main aim for this year.