Paul Anderson knows Brett Ferres’s return to action against Leeds will help make the Giants stronger for Thursday’s play-off semi-final trip to Wigan Warriors.

The England back-row forward emerged unscathed from his first competitive clash since he suffered a torn bicep in the win at Catalans Dragons on July 18.

Ferres’s influence during Thursday’s heartbreaking 20-16 home Super 8s defeat to the Rhinos became stronger the more the game progressed.

And Anderson feels that getting valuable game time under his belt ahead of this week’s massive DW Stadium encounter could make all the difference in the world.

“Brett got through the Leeds game well, which we’re all very pleased about,” said Anderson.

“And I thought he grew into the game the longer it went on.

“He looked to hit a spell after about 20 minutes where you could tell that he hadn’t played for a couple of months.

“But he got through that and will be a lot better for it when we go to Wigan on Thursday night, which is what we wanted.

“Brett’s a very important player for us, and it’s games like the one on Thursday when you look to your senior players to take the lead. Brett’s clearly one of those senior players, so it’s good to have him fit and available in time for the semi-final.”

And Anderson is also confident prop Eorl Crabtree will have fully recovered from a niggly knee injury which has kept him out of the last two games for the Warriors duel.

“We had hoped at the start of last week that Eorl would be ready for Leeds,” added the head coach.

“We were prepared to give him until the last minute to prove his fitness, but in the end time was against us.

“We are confident he’ll be fit for Thursday, which would be good. Like Brett, he’s one of our senior players and one you need for the big occasion.

“The fact Eorl didn’t make it meant Ukuma Ta’ai played a fair bit at prop against Leeds.

“I felt he was outstanding on the night, and we’ll obviously be looking for him to carry that on against Wigan.”