Huddersfield suffer trio of fresh injury blows as coach bemoans hip drop tackle

Huddersfield boss Jim Lenihan was left unhappy with what he deemed a hip drop tackle on Asher O’Donnell, who was one of three Giants stars to suffer injury blows in their Magic Weekend defeat to York Knights.

Stranded at the foot of the Super League ladder, the Giants were beaten 36-24 by York Knights at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The opening game of Magic Weekend on Merseyside brought a sixth game in charge for head coach Lenihan, and a sixth defeat, with Huddersfield having now won just two of their first 17 Super League games this season.

And though Lenihan pulled no punches with a scathing assessment of his side’s woeful performance following the latest loss, he also noted the alleged hip drop on O’Donnell.

Huddersfield Giants coach bemoans hip drop tackle on Asher O’Donnell in York defeat

Australian forward O’Donnell left the action early on, soon after Jon Bennison had opened the scoring for York.

Lenihan detailed: “Asher clearly had a hip drop on him going into the try… the first thing you think about is syndesmosis, which might be extended time (out). But it’s no use bleeding until we’re cut.

“I’ve only been here five or six weeks, but those things are scrutinised in the NRL.

“If it’s a clear hip drop, there should be something…. we lose a player for the whole game and they get to stay full book.”

Elsewhere, Huddersfield also lost front-rower Chris Patolo to a failed Head Injury Assessment (HIA) during Saturday afternoon’s clash, so he will sit out of next weekend’s home game against Bradford Bulls, a battle of Super League’s bottom two.

Lenihan said: “I’d have to have a look again at Chris Patolo. (I don’t know) whether it was shoulder contact (to the head) or the way he ran into the contact.

“I’m assuming they looked at (Xavier) Va’a’s carry into (Chris) Patolo, but it looks ugly. He clearly hits his head on something.

“If they’re on report, you’d like to think we get some benefit. At the minute, we get no benefit, we just lose those blokes.

“It certainly makes it hard when you lose two middles like that, but that happens, that’s football. We’ve got to be more resilient.

“Defensively, we were really poor. We crumbled fairly quickly.”

Giants suffer trio of fresh injury blows with Jacob Gagai also sidelined

Fellow forward Fenton Rogers also picked up a knock late on against York, while star man Jacob Gagai missed the Magic Weekend encounter.

The Giants boss explained: “(Rogers’ problem was his) ankle. He came off and didn’t go back on.

“I think we ended up with two on the bench after Chris (Patolo) got bounced out.

He (Gagai) has got a little strain in his calf. Probably a week, maybe two.

“It’s unfortunate for him he couldn’t get to the game this week.

“He pulled up a little bit sore after the game last week (against Wakefield Trinity), so we aired on the side of caution.”