CONFIDENT Giants Senior Academy coach Lee St Hilaire believes the best is still to come from his young Under 21s side.
The Giants look set to lose out on a place in the top-flight Academy Championship after their heavy 44-10 defeat at Wakefield Trinity Wildcats in their latest grading game.
But while Wakefield fielded an experienced side, including Liam Finn and Matt Field who have both played Super League, St Hilaire sent out a squad including 12 Under 18 Junior Academy players.
That was largely forced on the Giants who were greatly depleted due to the injuries to Super League squad men.
With the likes of Brandon Costin, Jim Gannon, Iain Morrison, Darren Turner and Paul White all sidelined and Jon Grayshon only just on the comeback trail following a broken leg suffered at Bradford eight months ago, St Hilaire was forced to call on less experienced Academy players.
And that was reflected as the Giants were restricted to tries from Ben Feehan and Marcus George and one Thomas Hemingway goal.
In comparison, the Wildcats showed the sort of form expected of a club tipped for big things, with Darren Grice leading the way with two tries, while there was one each for Finn, who also added six goals, Barlow, Jordan, Field, Larvin and Butterfield.
But with St Hilaire's side having started just as slowly last season - they suffered defeats to Featherstone and Hull KR but ended up in the Championship play-off race - he is not unduly concerned.
"I always feared the boys might start slowly, because we have been putting a new offensive plan in place," said St Hilaire.
"We also have a very young side, with 12 of the 17 on duty eligible for our Under 18s team.
"That bodes well for the future, and we have to remember that I am a performance-related coach rather than results-related coach."
