Huddersfield Giants captain Danny Brough knows it’s going to take a massive collective effort to guarantee further play-off progress.
Newly-crowned Super League minor champions Huddersfield missed the opportunity to have a week off and move within 80 minutes of a first Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford after a 22-8 home defeat to Wigan Warriors.
They will now host Brough’s former club Hull FC in an elimination semi-final at the John Smith’s Stadium on Thursday (8.00).
And the inspirational Giants captain knows that if they are to secure a qualifying semi-final spot at the second attempt, their level of performance will have to improve dramatically.
“The way we played against Wigan was nowhere near good enough for play-off rugby,” said Brough.
“We always knew we’d have a second bite of the cherry to reach the semi-finals, but none of us wanted that. We wanted to have the week off and keep hold of our home advantage.
“But we’ve obviously lost that now – that’s gone!
“It’s up to us to knuckle down, dig in and make sure we give ourselves the best possible chance against Hull on Thursday.
“All of us need to put it right this week, because there are no second chances.
“And we know there is a lot to fix up.”
