ONCE again I’m spending a weekend stuck on the sidelines.

But despite having to watch another game from the stands, it’s generally been a very positive week on the Huddersfield Giants front.

From a personal point of view, I’ve now been given the all-clear by my specialist to resume playing after recovering from my troublesome neck injury.

All being well, that’ll put me in contention for next Sunday’s trip to Hull FC.

While on the playing front, it looks as if we’re starting to get back to our best.

We produced some great stuff against St Helens last Saturday and scored some fantastic tries to underline why we’re second in the Super League table.

However, it was pretty disappointing to see so much of the post-match discussion focusing on how many senior players St Helens didn’t play.

Yes, they did have quite a few, but so did we, and there didn’t seem to be much mention of that at all.

On top of that, injuries are part of the game, and that’s why you need to make sure you’ve got a strong squad if you’re going to challenge for the major honours. I think we’ve shown this season that we come into that category.

That result obviously came just a couple of days after the club announced that Shaun Lunt had signed a new contract extension until the end of the 2015.

And this was followed up with the news Keith Mason and now Scott Grix have also secured new long-term deals.

These are highly-significant moves and shows how determined the club is to be successful in the long term.

Signing up our top players on long-term contracts brings stability, which is often the key to on-field success.

With Shaun and Scott signed up for the next few years, we’ve now got all the key positions covered by the top-quality players for the foreseeable future.

At full-back we’ve got Scotty, at hooker it’s now Lunty and Luke Robinson and at half-back it’s Kev Brown and Danny Brough. Not bad, is it?

It’s a group that any side can be built around, and with a great deal of success at that.

I really do think all of the club’s decision-makers deserve an incredible amount of credit for this.

What they are doing now should guarantee we’re successful for a long time to come.

MAY I take this opportunity to congratulate the Town boys on reaching the League I play-off final at Old Trafford next Sunday and wish them the best of luck against Peterborough.

I was one of a number of us from the Giants who were there to see their memorable penalty shoot-out semi-final triumph over Bournemouth at the Galpharm Stadium the other night.

I went along with my big pal Eorl Crabtree, and the likes of Nathan Brown, Kevin Brown and Jamahl Lolesi were there, too.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the occasion, and I’d have to say it’s the best live football game I’ve ever attended.

I was absolutely delighted with the result, and what made it all the more enjoyable for us was the fact we get on so well with manager Lee Clark and the boys. The two sets of players really do have a very healthy relationship with each other.

I’m sure the Town players will absolutely love the experience of playing at Old Trafford, just like we will when we’re playing in the Super League Grand Final later in the year!