Colton Roche thoroughly deserves his place in the Huddersfield Giants squad against Hull FC.
Having drafted the 25-year-old utility man onto the bench in place of Daniel Smith for the Super 8s victory at St Helens, coach Simon Woolford had no hesitation putting him into the 19-man squad against the Black and Whites.
Roche, in fact, played his first game under Woolford at the Totally Wicked Stadium, after previously being on loan to York.
And Woolford explained why he’ll be playing again as the Giants hunt a sixth successive victory against Hull FC.
“Colton was good,” said Woolford of his performance at St Helens.
“We thought it was a little bit of a gamble because he had not played for quite a while, he had been injured and it was four to six weeks since his last game for York.
“Against St Helens, though, the way Colton carries the ball and the intent in his defence, we thought he could add something for us.
“We probably played him a lot longer in his first stint than we wanted, and there were a couple of minutes before half time when he was ready to come off.
“But we took the gamble, left him on for the remainder of the half and he got through it.
“We then played him for some minutes in the second half and got him off, but considering he had not played a lot of footy – and the footy he had played was a division down – we thought he did a great job, so he’s been rewarded.
“He will be playing again this week.”
