Stone unconcerned with Wire’s woes
Rick Stone says he is focused on Huddersfield’s form rather than wondering how Warrington are faring ahead of Sunday’s meeting between the two teams.
The Giants pushed Wakefield close in their most recent outing at the end of May and Stone has rejected the idea that it’s a good time to play the out-of-sorts Wolves.
“We’ve got to concentrate on ourselves rather than look at what our opposition are doing,” he told the club’s official website.
“Warrington haven’t been in the best of form and I still look at their team and the basis of the team that had such a good season last year.
“I’m still thinking that it’s not going to take too much for them to change the momentum and change the course a bit and I think they may be targeting us to be able to do that.
“For us I don’t think it matters who we’re playing – we’ve got to win some games if we’re going to get ourselves higher up the table and we’ve got to get moving and building pretty quickly.
“We haven’t given our supporters a lot to cheer about so far this season at home and we need to be able to repay the faithful a bit come Sunday.”
New signing Jordan Turner looks set to boost Stone’s options for the game after taking part in training following his move from Canberra Raiders.
“He only got here on Tuesday and he was here on Wednesday to do a bit of a medical and he came through alright,” added Stone.
“He had a bit of a sternum injury, but he looks to be past that so we’re hopeful we can get him ready for Sunday.
“He will bring some experience to the team – I think all those really good players that have played in successful teams have got a bit of presence and confidence about them which is important and Jordan definitely has that.
“Just getting to know him over the past couple of days he seems a decent lad and I think he’ll enjoy his time here.”
Danny Brough should also return to squad after suspension, although he faces a fight to regain his place with Martyn Ridyard and Lee Gaskell impressing in his absence.
“We’ve got a decision to make in the halves which is nice – we haven’t had a lot of decisions to make in the last couple of weeks so we’ll have a look at them today and make a decision before the weekend.
“I think Martyn Ridyard has done pretty well in the past couple of weeks – Broughy has definitely been up there statistically as one of the better halves of the year with try assists and line break assists and his creativity around him.
“He’ll provide an injection of punch this week and hopefully a little more potency. We’ve got a few decisions to make, but it’s a nice position to be in.”