HAVE the boys needed to be lifted this week after the disappointing top-of-the-table defeat to Wigan?

Everyone was understandably disappointed after the events of last Friday night.

But we’re also 100% aware this one result won’t make or break our season, so the mood within the camp is still positive.

Even though we lost to Wigan this time, we’re all well aware there’s not a side in the competition that’s not beatable.

Every side we’ve played this year we feel comfortable we can beat.

But we also know that if we don’t play well and do the key things well, we can lose. That was the case against Wigan.

Having said that, I think this same rule applies to every single side in Super League.

There have been times in previous years where the competition has been dominated by one or two teams and the others have wondered how on earth they can beat them. I don’t think that’s the case any more.

If you look at the table at the moment you’ll see a lot of sides who are consistently winning a lot of games, because there are a lot of decent sides. We’re one of them.

We beat Wigan in a good, tough game over there with a lot less experienced side on the opening day of the season, and they beat us at our home track the other night, and this is a pattern that is being repeated throughout Super League XVII.

There will certainly be a lot of twists and turns before matters are resolved in 2012, and we know we’re still right up there challenging.

They key now, of course, is to make sure we respond in the right way to what happened the other night. With the players we have and with the quality of our squad, we know that’s firmly within our grasp.

But were you concerned with the way you failed to live with Wigan in the final 30 minutes of last Friday’s game?

Again, it was disappointing, but I thought Wigan were rewarded for all the earlier pressure they’d built up against us.

I think they had about six or seven repeat sets at one stage, and they maintained possession and field position better than us and strangled us out of the game a bit.

But we did still stretch their line and put them under pressure early on.

It’s just we didn’t take the chances that came our way, which you always have to do if you’re going to stand a chance of beating one of the top sides.

There’s no doubt that for 50 minutes we were right in there, and on another day we could have been talking about a completely different outcome.

Although you lost the game, you were full of praise for the efforts of David Fa’alogo and Greg Eden on the night. Exactly how pleased were you with their efforts.

Very pleased. Doof (Fa’alogo) obviously hadn’t played for a couple of weeks because of a groin problem, but he started the Wigan game and looked very, very strong.

To be honest, we had to push him a bit harder than we’d have wished, with the injuries to David Faiumu and Larne Patrick meaning he had to spend more time on the field than was planned.

But as well as playing well, he pulled up with no problems at all, and we’re looking forward to him having a strong second half of the season.

And Greg was just as impressive as Sam Tomkins at full-back on the night, and that was quite some achievement when considering how much more dominant Wigan were on this occasion.

So how much is everyone looking forward to putting things right against Salford at Magic Weekend at Manchester on Sunday?

Everyone is ready to go and really looking forward to it.

The No1 priority is obviously to put in a far more accomplished performance and get back to winning ways after suffering two losses to two very good teams over the past month.

But we’re also looking forward to putting in a big display on what is a very big stage.

Everyone here is really excited about playing at the Etihad Stadium, the home of new Premier League champions Manchester City.

It’s a fantastic venue and, all being well, it’s a ground that will help bring the very best out of us.

But I also hope it proves to be a wonderful occasion as well.

I’ve made no secret of how big a fan I am of the Magic Weekend concept, and whoever came up with the idea at the RFL deserves a huge pat on the back.

I know it’s all about taking Super League games on the road, and Manchester isn’t that far down the road from most of the teams!

But in these tough financial times, that’s probably no bad thing and hopefully it means there’ll be big crowds on both days.

The weather forecast is also looking pretty positive, so the thought of seeing really big turn-outs would be the icing on the cake.

For the Giants it’s Salford City Reds. How highly do you rate them?

Very highly. Phil Veivers is doing a very good job.

From an attacking point of view they are really threatening.

They’ve got some good halves, a great full-back and a lot of pace out wide.

Daniel Holdsworth, Matty Smith and Luke Patten make a formidable triangle and both centres are threatening and both wingers are very quick. That is a dangerous team.

Your forwards need to play well against their forwards, otherwise they can cause you all sorts of problems.

I’ve also been impressed with the way Stephen Wild has been playing there since he left the Giants at the end of 2010.

In fact, he’s playing as good as I’ve seen him play. The captaincy has obviously agreed with him and taken him to another level. He was one of my favourite players when I coached him and was always first on my team sheet. He’s one of the best defensive players I ever seen.