Grand Final still the goal for Huddersfield – Brough
Huddersfield half-back Danny Brough says their goal is still to get to the Grand Final, despite hitting the top in the race for the Super League league leaders shield.
Following St Helens‘ 22-16 win over Wigan and their win over Castleford on Sunday, the Giants now sit first in the table, a point ahead of last season’s minor premiers Wigan and 2012 Grand Finalists Warrington.
There are five games to go in the regular season, including a trip to the DW Stadium for Huddersfield on August 9, before the play-offs and the road to Old Trafford start in September.
Brough said: “Anything can happen. There are three teams in a good position and anything can happen on the day. If we win it, we win it. If we don’t, we don’t.
“We’ve still got a lot to concentrate on – you don’t win the Grand Final by finishing top of the league, so it is not of massive importance, but to be up there at the end of the season for the Giants would be a great achievement.
“Looking beyond that, we want to kick on and do something in the play-offs. The long term goal is to get to the Grand Final. We’ll take things week by week, if we get there we get there, if we don’t, we’ll go down trying.”
Huddersfield have been rugby league champions seven times in their history, the last coming in 1962, while their last Challenge Cup success came back in 1953.
Since then, they have won the second tier twice (in 1975 and 2002), the Division Three Championship in 1992, the Divisional Premiership in 1998 and the Buddies Cup (now Northern Rail Cup) in 2002.
Their previous best finish in Super League was third, back in 2009, when they finished six points behind leaders Leeds.
Run ins
Huddersfield (34 points) – Salford (H, Aug 4), Wigan (A, Aug 9), London (A, Aug 17), Wakefield (H, Sep 1), Bradford (A, Sep 8)
Wigan (33 points) – Hull KR (H, Aug 2), Huddersfield (H, Aug 9), Catalan (A, Aug 17), Hull (H, Aug 30), Leeds (H, Sep 6)
Warrington (33 points) – Castleford (A, Aug 4), Wakefield (H, Aug 11), Widnes (H, Aug 15), St Helens (A, Aug 30), Catalan (A, Sep 7)