I DON’T think I’m the only member of the squad who has this week experienced a real mixture of emotions.

To have reached the play-offs for the first time is obviously a fantastic achievement and we should all be extremely proud of that fact.

Yet after the events of last Saturday at Hull, there’s a real sense of anti-climax.

After the amazing season we have just had, we were desperate to finish the year with a massive bang. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite go according to plan.

OK, we did feel we were the victim of a couple of tough and crucial calls.

But we’re also the first to acknowledge that our performance on the night was well below the standard we had hoped. I wouldn’t say it was our worst performance of the year, but I’m afraid in the first half it came pretty close.

Fortunately, we did redeem ourselves a little with the way we fought back in the second half and, with the way we were feeling, we were convinced that if the game had gone on five more minutes we would have had them.

It’s something we spoke about in our final review together earlier in the week, and our final 40 minutes will give us some encouragement as we prepare for Super League XIII.

However, there was a real subdued feel about the whole review, because it was also the last time the Giants of 2007 would be together. It was the moment we had to say our goodbyes to Brad Drew, Mat Gardner, Chris Nero, Robbie Paul and Paul Reilly.

They have all been fantastic servants for the club, and I know they will all be missed.

There’s no doubt we’ll remain in touch, because the relationships you develop with all your teammates always remain very strong.

However, I have to admit that the review was also a little subdued as a result of the way we decided to wind down in the wake of our play-off exit.

As is the usual tradition for clubs at the end of the season, we did let our hair down a little, and I would like to thank the pubs of Huddersfield for putting up with us!

Another tradition is, of course, the naked run for those players who played Super League this season but failed to score a try.

As a result, Keith Mason and Tom Hemingway were forced to do it, but young Michael Lawrence escaped.

Even though he only played the last few minutes at Warrington, he still had to do it.

He used the excuse that he was training for England on the day of the run, which is fair enough. But I hope he’s aware that’s not the end of the matter!