Simon Woolford heaps praise on Huddersfield trio following win at Wigan

Drew Darbyshire

Huddersfield coach Simon Woolford spoke very highly of Kruise Leeming, Aaron Murphy and Joe Wardle after they claimed their first win of the season on Friday.

The Giants picked up their first points of the new campaign as they beat Wigan Warriors 14-6 at the DW Stadium.

And Woolford couldn’t speak highly enough of Kruise Leeming, Aaron Murphy and Joe Wardle after the game.

He said: ”The first month of the competition didn’t go to plan, but we’ve hung in there, stuck together and I’m happy for the boys.

“Kruise has been one of our better performers in the early rounds. We started him the previous two weeks and we have thrown him into 13 when Adam O’Brien comes on and that is working really well for us. Kruise is enjoying his role at the minute, and he gives us an extra dimension.

“We threw Murph into the pack and he was outstanding. No matter where you play him, he will do a job for you. He picked up a medial injury so he will be about for a few weeks so he will be a big loss for us, there is no doubt about it.

“Him and Joe Wardle got us off on the right note with their intent. Joe is a fantastic athlete, he is as tough as they come and is a great rugby league player and is a fantastic addition to our squad.”

Despite their win, the Giants remain at the bottom of the Super League table – level on points with Wigan and Leeds Rhinos.

But Woolford hopes Huddersfield can build on their victory over the current champions.

He added: “There are still a few areas where we need to improve like when we have the ball in hand, but our effort was spot on.

“Our defence looked really good. The amount of points we have leaked has been disappointing over the last couple of weeks, but I thought we took a giant step forward against Wigan.

“We talked a lot during the week about being prepared to stay in the fight and we found a way to dig ourselves out of it when we were put under pressure.

“We bombed a couple of chances in the first half, but the positive thing is that we created the chances. We need to kick on now.”

Next up for Huddersfield is home game against league leaders St Helens on Thursday, 7:45pm kick-off.