Brett Ferres will take no pleasure in relegating former club Bradford this weekend.
But sealing the Bulls fate will be the last thing on his mind during the 80 minutes of John Smith’s Stadium action, with the aim of getting the Huddersfield Giants back on the winning Super League track his sole focus.
Victory for Huddersfield would end a two-match losing run and help maintain their top-six challenge.
And Ferres is also looking for last season’s Super League Leaders’ Shield winners to put in a top-quality performance to gain some much-needed momentum going into the final six games of the regular season.
“To be honest, when I’m out on the field tomorrow the last thing on my mind will be sending Bradford down,” said the 28-year-old England back-row forward, who began his professional career at the Bulls over a decade ago.
“It’s obviously a sad state of affairs over at Odsal, and I’ve taken no pleasure in seeing it at all.
“I just hope that when their relegation is confirmed and they do go down, they can regroup, get some stability and come back stronger in the future.
“They’ve now got the people running the club who I know will do a good job in getting the Bulls back on their feet. That obviously includes my uncle, Steve Ferres (the club’s managing director), who I do speak to fairly regularly.
“He does send me cards every now and again – which all good uncles should – although there’s never any money in it!
“But that philosophy of keeping hold of your cash is probably just what Bradford need right now. That’s the key to re-building a successful Bradford club in the future.
“Unfortunately, what’s happened to Bradford is the nature of sport, and I can’t afford to show any sympathy towards them this weekend.
“I know as soon as I get out on the pitch tomorrow, the only thing I’ll be thinking about is helping the Giants to start winning again.
“We’ve not enjoyed these last couple of weeks, because we’ve lost, and we’re all determined to do something about that.
“It’s up to us as a group to make sure the rot stops now and we find a way to get back to playing the sort of rugby that brought us so much success last season as quickly as possible.
“We’re desperate to create a winning culture again, and when we start working together as a team we know that will happen.
“Hopefully, that’ll start this weekend.”
And Ferres is hoping to play a major role – even though he’s been in the wars over the past couple of weeks.
He was forced to retire early with a knee injury during the win at Hull KR three weeks ago and he then suffered a cut head and rolled an ankle during last Friday’s defeat at Castleford.
“I think this has been my time to get a few bumps and bruises,” he added.
“I have copped quite a few over the past couple of games, although that’s part and parcel of our sport, of course.
“You know when you step onto the field that the opposition are going to try and whack you and hurt you, although on the flipside you’ll be trying to do exactly the same to them!
“But we’re lucky at the Giants that we’ve got such fantastic medical staff who are great at patching you up. Our head physio, Dave O’Sullivan, has been working wonders with me, and that means I’m fit and raring to go tomorrow.”
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