Luke Robinson sacking immaterial as Huddersfield Giants’ problems run far deeper

Luke Robinson might not have been the solution at Huddersfield Giants, but he wasn’t the problem either.

The Giants boss became Super League’s first coaching casualty over the weekend, with six straight defeats at the start of the season enough to prompt the club’s hierarchy to make a change.

It brings an end to another miserable chapter for the Giants. Sadly, there have been too many of them over the last decade. They have finished in the play-offs once in the last ten seasons, in which time they have had five different permanent head coaches.

It is clear that the issues run deeper than the coach.

The Giants have become easy to be ridiculed in recent years and that has to change. Some of that isn’t their fault; the club is well aware of a need to move out of the Accu Stadium but they are receiving no help in their attempts to do that from local authorities.

They need it for on-field purposes alone. They have managed to win just 9 of their last 32 games on home soil. The stadium does nothing for them.

And for balance, their academy setup is good; there are Huddersfield produced players littered across Super League. The new training facility being built at Laund Hill will be a significant upgrade. They are doing some things right.

But quite frankly, when you lose players and replace them with others not as good, things don’t end well. That’s exactly what has happened at Huddersfield over a fair period of time.

Dom Young went to the NRL. Jake Wardle was allowed to leave for Wigan. Jake Connor, similarly, was allowed to exit from his contract early to join Leeds. Owen Trout, now heading to the NRL, left for Leigh. Ricky Leutele and Luke Yates joined Super League rivals. Oliver Wilson was given the club’s blessing to join Wigan too. That’s before mentioning Will Pryce and Danny Levi.

The club has never got on top of the injuries that have stifled them year on year on year. It is not bad luck when it’s annual. It’s much more likely to be a combination of other factors that are in your control.

Fix up recruitment and the stadium and the Giants go a long way to sorting out their issues. Two major issues, but they’re not unfixable either.

That’s why there’s reason for optimism for Huddersfield. But there’s also reason for concern too.

Director for Change, Ralph Rimmer, spoke enthusiastically about the club’s future in the aftermath of Robinson’s exit. He spoke about moving stadium and a vision for the future.

That’s all well and good, but what about the next nine months? The club is staring at another lousy season, and after finishing 12th in the IMG table last year, there do have to be a few nervous glances over the shoulder at those just behind them.

Who knows how many clubs will be in Super League next season but if it is 14, it’s fair to say London Broncos will fancy hunting them down.

Coming full circle, it does make Robinson’s axing a decision that, in the grand scheme of things, somewhat immaterial.

He might not have been the solution, but the evidence suggests the next person to take the hot seat won’t bring all the answers either.