Huddersfield Giants coach Nathan Brown desperate to sort out his side’s starts

NATHAN BROWN believes the Giants will be much better off once they sort out their sluggish starts.

In both of the Giants’ pre-season games – at Castleford and Wigan – Huddersfield have been guilty of being slow out of the blocks.

A reason for that could be due to the Giants adopting a new style of play and the players needing time to get into their stride.

But whatever the explanation, Brown knows it needs to be sorted.

“We clearly need to get to grips with this,” said Brown, after his side had beaten a young Wigan squad 30-18 at the DW Stadium on Thursday night.

“We didn’t start well at Castleford, and we didn’t start well at Wigan, and that’s one of the areas we obviously need to address.

“And that’s obviously a massive shame.

“I thought we definitely improved against Wigan, and if it hadn’t been for the first 20 minutes I’d have classed the improvement at Wigan as being an even bigger one.

“After that slow start the other night, I thought we put together some good defensive stuff, and were a bit more fluid on attack.

“But at this stage, we’re not too concerned.

“It was always going to take some time getting used to our new systems, and I’d say we’re probably where we thought we’d be at this stage.

“We always knew we wouldn’t be perfect, and that we’d still have a fair amount of work ahead of us. Nothing has changed on that front.

“But we remain hopeful that after two more weeks of hard work, we’ll go back to Wigan for the opening League game (February 5) and give it a really good crack.”

Brown was also upbeat with the improvements shown by a number of his players against the Warriors.

“I thought Greg Eden showed some good signs, while Bobby Fairbank and Adam Walker were great,” added Brown.

“And Scotty Grix’s influential in his new role in the halves grew the longer the game went on.

“There are definitely some positive signs.”

The Giants, meanwhile, have launched their 2012 alternative shirt, which is now on sale.

Club officials are confident the bold, new design, which is being modelled by Shaun Lunt (inset), will be a hit with supporters.

Super League will be sponsored by nationwide logistics company Stobart in 2012, the Rugby Football League have announced.

Stobart are taking over from Engage Mutual Assurance, who called a halt to their seven-year sponsorship of the game’s elite competition at the end of last season.