Momentum the key word for Stone

Huddersfield coach Rick Stone says momentum is key for his side, but that Friday’s opponents Castleford will want to keep theirs up too.

With the Tigers guaranteed a home semi-final having already secured the Super League League Leaders Shield, Daryl Powell can afford to shuffle his squad to keep his men fresh ahead of their tilt at the Grand Final.

The Giants, on the other hand, need to keep winning if they are to keep up their chances of an unlikely top four finish, having sneaked in to the top eight at the end of the regular season.

He told the club’s official website: “The momentum has been pretty good in the last couple of weeks. As for the break it is what it is and we use it appropriately considering we are at the back end of a long season.

“They’ve been the stand-out team in the competition. The table reflects that. They’re ten points ahead of the next team so they’re probably 15-20% better than any other side in the competition at the moment. 

“They’ve still got to keep building some momentum. Now they’ve won the League Leaders Shield, they want to keep building, keep some momentum going towards the Semi-Finals, which is really important at this time of the year. I expect after a week off that they want to get straight back on the horse.

“We wanted to do our best in every game really and see where it took us. We were a little bit untidy in some of the errors against Wigan, the better team won on the night, which was disappointing but that’s the way it goes sometimes. 

“We may have to win four to make it into the top four, we realise that, but we’re probably in a good place at the moment to come up against Castleford. Injury-wise we’re a little bit healthier than we have been for the last few weeks. 

“There’s some good belief, momentum, and confidence in the side, so it’s as good as time as any.”