WE would all be foolish if we didn't think we'd miss our latest major injury victims.

I refer, of course, to scrum half Paul March and prop Mick Slicker, who will both be out for six weeks.

As everyone now knows, Paul suffered a torn calf muscle in the opening minutes of the game against Wigan, while Mick has undergone a hernia operation.

The news over Paul was a big shock and clearly not part of this season's plan!

But we've known for some time that Mick would need surgery at some stage. It was just a case of when.

And while it's disappointing that a surgery slot became available at this particular moment, when injuries are hitting us so hard, we felt it only right that he went ahead with it.

Mick's been struggling with the injury for weeks, but has refused to make any sort of deal over it.

Instead, he has done right by his coach and right by his teammates by putting himself second for the benefit of the club.

As a result, he's made significant sacrifices for the team by playing through the pain barrier.

It really is a magnificent gesture by a great professional and highlights just how much the Huddersfield Giants mean to him.

Yet, having said that, I know Mick isn't the only player in this squad who behaves in this sort of manner.

In fact, it would be hard to think of anyone who wouldn't be prepared to put their body on the line to help the current Giants cause.

I really do believe I am in charge of a very special group of people, whose attitude makes my job so much easier.

I KNOW I've already used the word `proud' a great many times this season when describing the performances of my players in Super League games.

But I don't think it has ever been more appropriate than at Wigan.

OK, we lost the game 40-18.

But given the circumstances, I have nothing but praise for the way my Huddersfield heroes performed.

This really was classic backs-to-the-wall stuff, with everything going against us from the word go.

In fact, it was obvious the day before the game that Sunday wasn't going to be our day.

In our final training session, full-back Paul Reilly overstretched himself and had to pull out with an ankle injury.

It had been causing him a little trouble all week, but he was still very confident of playing.

That meant I then had to reverse my decision over Paul Smith, who I had intended to rest against Wigan to make sure he fully recovered from his shoulder injury in time to face Bradford Bulls this weekend.

As everyone knows, Paul jarred the shoulder during the warm-up and Jon Grayshon, who was 18th man, was given the nod to play. He had four minutes to get ready before the game kicked-off!

To make matters even worse, we lost playmaker Paul March inside the first three minutes.

Is it any surprise, therefore, that we got off to such a poor start?

While we desperately attempted to switch things around, in-form Wigan took full advantage to build up a healthy advantage.

But what can I say about the way the boys eventually responded.

We scored just before half-time to make it 22-8 and then grabbed two fantastic tries at the start of the second half to make it 22-18.

Unfortunately, with March unable to return and Jon Grayshon picking up an ankle injury, we were unable to make full use of our substitutions and in the end ran out of petrol.

But, overall, it was still a very creditable effort and all the players should take credit for the way they battled against such tough odds.

It's just a crying shame that so much of the focus for the way we played was negative when, personally, I felt it should have been positive.

Take the key Stanley Gene incident, for example.

Stanley produced another outstanding individual display.

Yet all I have heard about in relation to Stanley is his one indiscretion when he was accused of `stamping' on Adrian Lam.

At that time we were, of course, in possession and on a roll. The penalty gave Wigan much-needed breathing space and they then got back on track.

But it is grossly unfair to blame Stanley, the turning point was our poor start and nothing else.

As I said, I was proud of everyone's effort on what was the most demanding of games.