HUDDERSFIELD Giants have put on hold the confirmation of new signings until the end of St Helens' Super League play-off campaign!
Although the McAlpine club are believed to have snapped up several players on a provisional basis, a final decision will not be made until Jon Sharp has been installed as the new head coach.
That will not happen until the end of the season for St Helens, where Sharp is currently the assistant coach.
But Giants chief executive Ralph Rimmer feels confident that the make-up of next season's squad will become clearer within days of Sharp taking control.
"We've obviously been doing a lot of work in the background with Jon's guidance," said Rimmer.
"But, understandably, Jon still has a lot on his plate at Saints as they try and defend their Super League crown.
"He wants to concentrate 100% on that right now - after all, they are his current employers - and then focus 100% on the Giants.
"As soon as Jon is free he will look to finalise his squad and rubber-stamp any signings we have been lining up.
"The final say is his."
Club officials, meanwhile, have expressed their disappointment that they have been unable to host the Junior Academy First Division Grand Final.
The Giants v Warrington Wolves clash should have been held in Huddersfield as the West Yorkshire club finished higher up the table in the regular season.
But instead the match will take place at Wilderspool, the home of Warrington, this Thursday (7.45).
It's a decision that has angered many Giants fans, who were hoping to watch their club in cup final action but will now be unable to do so.
And Giants football manager Stuart Sheard admits they are not alone in feeling this way.
"Like a lot of supporters, the club is disappointed we can't stage it here," he said.
"As soon as we knew we would have home advantage we approached the McAlpine Stadium Events Panel requesting to stage the game.
"Unfortunately, at such short notice, the request had to be turned down.
"There are prior bookings on Sunday, and it's a similar story midweek, plus there's a Huddersfield Town home game to consider on the Saturday.
"When it became clear there was going to be a problem, the RFL told us it had to be switched to Warrington."
