Control the ball better!

That’s the overriding message from interim head coach Chris Thorman as they prepare to take on Widnes Vikings at the John Smith’s Stadium.

Thorman believes protecting possession more clinically will help the Giants last 80 minutes and give them a much better chance of winning for the first time since March 9, when Widnes were toppled 28-16 on their own pitch.

Knowing it could be his last assignment at the helm before the arrival of Simon Woolford from Australia , Thorman said: “I have enjoyed being interim head coach. Anyone that knows me knows that I love the club and am an optimist when it comes to this club.

“I know all the players really well and know what they’re capable of.

“I just think that we’ve been a bit inconsistent with the ball, we’ve had couple of plays off defensively and the lack of our strike players and high-end players have affected us.

“But at the same time, we have to stay positive and I keep saying to the boys that it’s only them that can get us out of it.

“It doesn’t matter who we want to bring in, it’s down to them, I keep reiterating that point and I think it’s slowly starting to get through.

“I spoke to Michael Lawrence over the weekend and he feels like the boys have let me down a little bit in terms of a performance, but you don’t play badly on purpose and circumstances have dictated an awful lot over the past six to eight weeks.

Michael Lawrence

“It is what it is, and you can’t dwell on that. We have to move forward and stay strong together as a group. Like I’ve said, the players can and will find a way to get us out of this.”

A win against Widnes would be a start, and the bottom-placed Giants can leapfrog their visitors in the standings by taking two points.

It’s an enticing opportunity, agrees Thorman, but he added: “We are not in any position to disrespect any opposition team at the minute because as soon as you do that you get bitten.

“I’ve watched Widnes’ last three games and they’re an offensive threat.

“They’ve scored plenty of points this year. They’ve had their own injury issues but I keep talking about focusing on what we need to do.

“Without disrespecting Widnes, we are going to focus on what we need to do.

“There are good players in the Widnes team.

“Rhys Hanbury has been scoring tries for a long time in Super League and they’ve got Lloyd White back, and I’m a big fan of Lloyd White, the hooker.

“They’ve got a couple of outside backs playing pretty well, too, so they are by no means and easy game at all.

“If you treat them as that then you are going to be in trouble, and we won’t be going in prepared like that.

“Our structure in training has been focused on getting fitter, and that’s why there might have been a slight down side at the back end of games – because we have been trying to get more into them in training.

“If you don’t do that now then we will be chasing our tails all the way through to September.

“We feel this has been the best way to go looking forward, and for the new coach coming in as well, but this week we are aiming to maybe be a bit fresher come the Widnes game.”