Huddersfield Giants set for IMG gradings rise amid key stadium update

Ralph Rimmer insists Huddersfield Giants’ Super League status is secure, with the club set to improve their gradings score.

The Giants finished twelfth on gradings last year and with Toulouse Olympique and York Knights both working to improve on their scores, and London Broncos investing heavily, there has been some talk about how that could impact on the Giants.

But Rimmer, Huddersfield’s Director for Change, believes the club’s score will increase this year.

“I can absolutely be confident that we won’t be anywhere near 15th in that table,” Rimmer told Love Rugby League.

“There’s lots of things that we’re doing. We’re working on stuff which moves us up that table. We are improving on some of the scores that we delivered last time as well.

“That gives us the confidence to go forward but we want to score higher and higher on everything. Unless the world changes again, of course, which is always possible, but we won’t be anywhere near that.”

The ACCU Stadium has stifled Huddersfield’s point scoring ability, with the capacity, and their average attendances, seeing them score low on utilisation.

It is no secret that the Giants are actively looking to leave their current home and build a new stadium, while a move to The Shay remains on the cards for 2027, despite objections continuing to hold up that process.

Rimmer said in an official club interview that they would have a new stadium by 2030. When asked where that confidence came from, he said: “That’s my vision and I’m pretty confident we’ll do it. You’re right, on the surface, there’s very little to see at this moment in time. Hopefully that changes quite soon, but don’t think there’s not a lot of work going on behind the scenes, at the moment I can’t divulge what that is.

“It is an incredibly frustrating process. People will point at bits of land and say why don’t you build it there? It just doesn’t work like that. I’ve had many meetings with the local authority and I’m hoping to come to a conclusion reasonably quickly because you’re right, the timescales are tight. But I’m confident we’ll have a stab at that.”

Rimmer added: “I think we’ll be at The Shay next year. Ken’s been incredibly generous as far as The Shay goes. He’s put a pitch down and shown real commitment. I think he’s been treated quite harshly. But at the moment, I think we’ll be there.”

Irrespective of that, Rimmer is aware that the Giants will continue to attract their critics.

“I get that,” Rimmer said. Watch this space. I am confident in what we’ve done and what we’re doing.

“I have talked internally many times about the fact that there will always be naysayers outside, you and I have been involved in this sport long enough to know that. But let’s just focus on what we’re doing internally. We are doing that, we’re building processes, infrastructure and partnerships. I’m confident the team is going to improve after a bad start.

“Let’s just let the naysayers be that and focus on what we do and be judged on our actions. It’s a time for linking arms, getting strong and driving forward. Let people chuck rocks a little bit, that’s okay.

“I’ve completed several transformational projects in different sports and I know what needs to be done. You can really start with vision, missions and values. It’s massively important that the staff and the board know where we want to go and in what timescale. What’s our purpose? What values do we believe in? It’s really easy to bypass.

“I did lots of work with the staff and the board and we pulled those through and we’ve got those in place. You can pull out the kind of stadium we’re aiming to be in and the commercial and marketing goals. How many people do you want to be in that stadium and how are you going to get them? You draw objectives from 2030 through to 2027 and you can deliver real objectives to people within the club based upon that.

“We’ve got a monthly luncheon, we’ve got a monthly newsletter distributed, which describes all the activities going on. We’ve got members of the office and board delivering presentations to all the playing groups. It’s just a matter of making people understand what’s going on behind the scenes and what part they play in it. That helps you drive it forward.

“In times of stress, everyone breaks up, that’s the truth. In any organisation, if it’s doing well everyone looks out because they’re proud to be a part of it. When it’s under pressure, they look up and ask who will sort it out. You need to deliver this glue that provides direction. We’ve got a great new marketing partner, Fantastic Media, it’s a great agency. We have a growth strategy partner in Ventas Sales, again, local to here but produces growth strategies all over the country. We’ve got proper people involved who want to be part of the family.

“Suddenly, we’re producing resources and infrastructure and know what we’re doing.”