Hi, it’s Eorl here.
And I’m afraid I’m not in the most upbeat of moods right now, as you can well imagine.
I’d hoped to be waxing lyrical about our fantastic couple of weeks, starting with our win over Wakefield to claim the Super League Leaders Shield and finishing with a home play-off triumph over Wigan on Thursday.
In between, I was also looking forward to throwing in the bit about our pride at having five Giants players in the Super League Dream Team in Danny Brough, Leroy Cudjoe, Brett Ferres, Shaun Lunt and myself.
But after the events of Thursday night it’s hard to relive the previous events with any sort of excitement.
Yes, I’m obviously proud to be part of the first Huddersfield side to win a championship in 81 years, and I was also proud to be named in the Dream Team for the first time in 13 years.
But the most important part about this year is trying to get to the Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford next month, and then win it.
I know we’re still in a position to do that.
But the nature of our home play-off defeat to Wigan the other night has left us all with a nasty taste in the mouth, and certainly not in the mood to tell tales of silly antics.
Losing to Wigan two days ago means that if we win our sudden death play-off game on Thursday, we’ve still lost home advantage in the semi-finals the following week and the Club Call vote when we can pick our own last-four opponent.
But that’s the price you pay for producing an under-par performance in the play-offs. You just can’t get away with it.
All being well, the mood will feel a lot brighter this time next week, and normal service will be resumed.
For now, however, it’s a case of everyone getting their heads down, re-focusing and making sure we get back to our best for next Thursday night.
Our confidence still remains 100% intact.
We know that wasn’t the real Giants side out there on Thursday night, and we certainly know why it went wrong out on the pitch.
Rest assured, we won’t make the same mistakes second time around.
