WHEN you’re heading into a top-of-the-table Super League clash you always want to be in good form and in good shape.

You also want to go into such an important fixture with your confidence high.

And I’d say that’s certainly the case for us ahead of tonight’s massive home game against Wigan.

Obviously, we’ve got a couple of injuries to key players and we know we haven’t hit our absolute peak in terms of performance.

But we do feel we’re very ready to tackle the Warriors and re-establish our two-point lead at the top of the Super League table.

As everyone knows, we warmed up for tonight’s encounter by defeating London Broncos 50-14 in the quarter-final of the Challenge Cup last weekend.

It was one of those games where we started a bit sloppily, both on attack and defence, but once we began to fix things up we started to flow and you could just see the gulf between the teams.

In fact, I spoke to a few of their players after the game and they said we were as good as anyone they’ve come across this year.

We’ll obviously take comments like that all day long!

Hearing things like that, from players from a rival Super League club, are bound to boost your confidence even more, and that’s no bad thing on the eve of our most important game of the season so far.

But, at the same time, we also know we can’t afford to start against Wigan like we did against the Broncos.

The key tonight is making sure we carry on from where we left off against London, when everyone contributed to the victory.

Once again, it was the playmakers in our team who were singled out for praise, and I have to say this contribution was important.

But, as one of this group myself, I feel it’s only right to give credit where it’s due.

Without the fantastic work of the forwards in the middle there’s no way we can operate

effectively, while we’re also helped by the lines our outside backs run, which makes our contribution look even more significant.

In other words, our success isn’t down to what players are doing individually, it’s down to the way the players are operating as part of the team.

Right now it’s working well, and hopefully it’s going to work just as well against Wigan at the Galpharm tonight!

WELL, it’s that time again when the family’s divided!

It’s me coming up against Wigan’s in-form back-row forward Gareth Hock, who just happens to be the brother of my wife Kirsty.

As a result, it’s always an interesting time, with Kirsty always assuring me she supports me and the Giants on occasions like this, even against Gaz and her hometown team.

To be honest, I do think this is the case. She obviously wants her brother to do well, but will still be rooting for Huddersfield.

For me, I hope Gaz doesn’t do well and we win!

But he knows I mean it in the nicest possible sense, because we know if he’s playing well he’ll prove a real handful and could tip the balance in Wigan’s favour. That’s the last thing we want.