AS Warrington and Wigan prepare to go head-to-head in the Super League Grand Final, Rick Stone is putting his plans in place to make sure the Giants can once again have a crack at reaching Old Trafford.
After twice going close to reaching the Theatre of Dreams in the past four seasons – where they were beaten at Wigan and Warrington in the play-off semi-finals – they obviously took a massive backward step in 2016 by retaining their Super League status by the skin of their teeth.
It was only the wins in the final two Middle 8s clashes at home to Leeds Rhinos and at Hull KR that prevented them suffering relegation to the Championship.
But rather than putting plans in place to make sure the Giants avoid playing in the Middle 8s again in 2017, former Newcastle Knights head coach Stone is plotting for an assault on the top end of the table.
And he believes he’s got the tools in place to do it.
“I can’t question the quality in this squad, it’s excellent,” said Stone, who took over from former Giants boss Paul Anderson in mid-July.
“That’s probably why we felt we didn’t deserve to be in the position we were at the end of the season.
“But the truth is we did deserve to be where we were. We weren’t playing well, we were missing a few ingredients and it was a real battle right through until the end.
“Fortunately, we did ultimately manage to get those five wins we needed from our seven Middle 8s games and we can start to plan positively for the future.
“Coming into the club when I did – just a few games before the end of the regular season with the Giants rock bottom of the Super League table – wasn’t the ideal time.
“But these past 10 weeks or so have given me an insight into the playing group, what I think we need to do and what our priorities need to be.
“As a result, I’ve now got a good idea of how to plan to get ready for pre-season so that, hopefully, we can become a more well-rounded and consistent side capable of competing at the right end of the table.”
Composure in attack:
"There are some great players at the club who have done some incredible things since I’ve been here.
"I’ve certainly held my breath a few times and seen some terrific attack. But there needs to be some balance and composure there.
"The players have to make sure the play selection is right, particularly at the end of the set, whether it’s to run, pass or kick."
Defensive resolve:
"If you look at the four teams involved in the play-off semi-finals (Warrington, Wigan, Hull FC and St Helens), they’ve only been conceding a few tries in each game.
"That’s down to those teams’ defensive resolve, and we have to make sure we follow their lead and start to match what they’re doing. In the Middle 8s we did score our fair share of points, but we let in a lot as well.
"If you look throughout the entire season, I think we conceded on average about 25 points a game, which was put us in 10th in the League. The leading teams were somewhere in the region of 18, which is clearly where we need to be."
Work ethic:
"Getting this right would clearly help our cause, particularly in terms of improving that defensive resolve.
"There’s no question that if we start showing we want to play for each other even more the results will follow. I think towards the end of the season and in those final two wins over Leeds and Hull KR, we did see more of this.
"That was clearly in the case in the second half at Hull, where they put us under a lot of pressure but we hung in together and eventually gained our reward."
Mental toughness:
"Throughout the 10 weeks or so I’ve been here, I’ve made no secret of the fact that this is an area that’s caused me some concern.
"There are times I’ve felt we’ve been pretty fragile mentally, and that’s proved extremely costly. It’s something you can work on during training and throughout pre-season, and that’s exactly what we intend to do.
"Recruitment can also help in that process, because I have been looking at players who are known to be mentally tough."
Physical fitness:
"You can always improve the physical side of the squad, it’s something everyone looks at trying to improve all the time.
"At the end of a pre-season and just before a new campaign gets under way, you can guarantee the message coming out of every club is that the players are fitter, stronger and faster than ever before, and I’m determined to make sure that’s 100% the case with us.
"There’s no doubt there are some areas of our fitness programme that we’ll need to target, but that’s all part of the assessment you undertake at this time of the year to make sure you’re where you need to be for the new season."
