Huddersfield Giants inquest begins after flat finish to season that promised so much

Huddersfield limped out of the play-offs at the John Smith's Stadium on Saturday afternoon, suffering their heaviest defeat of the campaign in a game they had been building towards all year.

Ian Watson's side settled into a top-six place in round one and never relinquished it, allowing them to map out the road to the play-offs.

A new experience for this Huddersfield team, they peaked too early and were beaten to the punch by a side riding a wave of momentum.

Whereas Salford booked their play-off ticket courtesy of a sensational run of nine wins in 11 games, the Giants grappled with their form en route to the do-or-die stage of the Super League campaign.

Although they were getting results at the back end of the regular season, the warning signs were there for Watson's men.

The Giants had the look of genuine title contenders during a six-game winning run either side of the Challenge Cup final but they never truly recovered from a chastening defeat at the hands of 12-man St Helens.

Huddersfield found a way to hang in games and grind out wins, enough to secure third place with something to spare.

Any thoughts that they were saving themselves for the play-offs were dismissed inside the opening quarter of the eliminator clash with Salford.

"We don't want to make any excuses saying we've played too many games this year," said Watson.

"We've just got to be better. For the last six or seven games, we played in 40-minute spells.

"Salford were the better team and beat us fairly and squarely, but for the last few weeks we've been tinkering on 40-minute performances rather than 80-minute performances."

Huddersfield tried to impose themselves on the Red Devils early on by kicking deep and making the visitors come away from their own line.

But Salford quickly broke free from the shackles and raced into a 16-0 lead thanks to quickfire tries from Joe Burgess and Kallum Watkins.

So dominant as the frontrunners, the methodical Giants are not built for chasing down large deficits.

With Theo Fages off colour on his return from a two-game absence, plan B did not come naturally to Huddersfield.

The Giants huffed and puffed but the Marc Sneyd-inspired Red Devils picked them off to book a semi-final date with Saints.

Huddersfield's spine - so instrumental during the good times in 2022 - lost their way in the closing stages of the year and Watson's valued processes broke down as a result.

"I thought we played real dumb," said the Giants boss in his post-match interview.

"I've spoken to all the spine in there and said we've got to read what the D (defence) are doing.

"We spoke all week about how aggressive they were going to be on their goal-line but we played straight into their hands.

"Your spine has got to be really good and it comes down to experience. When everything is racing in and around them, they've got to keep cool.

"Your best half-backs do that. I thought Marc Sneyd was awesome at that.

"Theo has said that he wasn't good enough in that area. We're looking at Theo to do that.

"He's been phenomenal at that all year and he's had one tough game here."

By and large, Salford have managed to keep their spine on the field all year and it showed on Saturday.

Ryan Brierley, Brodie Croft, Sneyd and Andy Ackers all stood up on the big stage to guide the Red Devils to a famous win.

Brierley and Ackers scored Salford's second-half tries in front of a jubilant away end that matched their side’s energy and belief.

The Red Devils finished the regular season three places and seven points behind Huddersfield but momentum is king in the play-offs.

For the second year running, the teams that finished third and fourth have been eliminated in week one by sides that came up on the rails.

Salford and Leeds Rhinos - two teams that were keeping Toulouse Olympique company at the bottom a few short months ago - are now only 80 minutes from Old Trafford.

"The big one for us was about starting the season well," said Watson. "That's what we put all our emphasis on.

"When I was at Salford in 2019, we had an idea of where we felt the squad was and we tried to tailor our run to make sure we were ready for the play-offs.

"Because Huddersfield had been sat at the bottom of the table for a number of years, this year we had to make sure we started well and went hard and got after it.

"If the young lads tailed off, they tailed off but they learned massive lessons. They've probably learnt the biggest lesson, which is that play-off football is completely different."

Huddersfield arrived in the play-offs with a healthy squad and an impressive home record but that counted for nothing against the irrepressible Red Devils.

Although Watson's team made huge strides over the course of the year, they will look back on 2022 as a missed opportunity.

"This is going to sting," he said.

"It's the most disappointing way we could have finished the season on the back of the development that we've done.

"But we finished third, got to a Challenge Cup final and fell short in that, so there's a massive step forward in terms of progression.

"A hell of a lot of our players will learn a hell of a lot of lessons from this game."