Leeds are on a different level when it comes to attracting players though, they have far more funds to attract top quality players at all levels, we don't, we are building up to having a top class academy for the future,
i see your point but like i said previously we play to our strengths, and if those strengths are not offloading and throwing the ball around then fine, i support Huddersfield, as much as i enjoy watching good games as a neutral, i am happy to support my team, regardless of how they play.

of course, we all want to see us play like leeds and win things in front of 15,000 people every week, but we aren't Leeds, and we really can't compare the 2 clubs .

I agree that the LLS was something to be proud of (especially for those who remember cold wet days at Runcorn, Blackpool etc.) and don't dismiss it lightly.

But in the context of this thread I don't believe a couple of Challenge Cup final appearances and a LLS in 8-9 years is going to significantly influence our attendances.

We've come a long way in the last 15 years through the hard work of many people and that shouldn't be underestimated.

I believe Ken Davy has shifted his investment from marketing (cut price season tickets etc.) to where if should be concentrated and that's in the scholarship / academy and the purpose built facilities behind the textile centre on leeds road.

He's a business man and I think he realises he will get a better return on his investment doing this than pumping more money into marketing campaigns that are never guaranteed to be successful.

What we need now more than anything is to see lads coming through who can be genuine Super League players (the omens are good so far) and to get to the GF.

We've got solid foundations in place and now need that push to the next level.

The signings for next season may take us to another level but the last thing we need right now is a limp end to the season.

At the very least we need to keep our club moving forward and to make sure we retain the core 5,000 - 6,000 fans we currently have.

Excellent posts.

So then meast if we signed for next season, D Mcquire, Burrows, Delainey, JJB, Hablett, Moon, and got rid of our corresponding players, would you be happy or unhappy,

It's not a trick question in any way, I am just Making the point that these are the players who have been winning things for Leeds for quite a few years now, ( and I've seen all of them slagged off for one reason or another) .

You make the point that Leeds have far more funds to attract top quality players than we do, I thought we all spent the same, ( I know all about the sweepers up and the Canteen ladies) But Leeds are not known for being big spenders.

Where they do have a big advantage over us is the young Talent, but we seem to be getting on the right lines with that now.

IMO where the big difference between us and the Leeds Wigan Saints Warrington's is, It's the culture of those clubs is one of winning, ( Warrington are getting there) Their Fans don't turn up Hoping and praying , They turn up expecting the team to either win, or give it a good go, If they lose a final and get 40 points stuck on them, they don't treat it as a stunning achievement, to them it's a loss and better not referred too.
Good as that game was last week, Saints won't want to keep remembering that, they will want to forget Leeds beat them, Because they are interested in winning, they don't celebrate Loosing.
But above all they have built a reputation, as have Wigan and others of playing good open football, all I'm saying is can't we make a start down that road,( We did make that start when Brown first came ) That is what keeps the crowds up, If we can get that sort of thinking into the club, Play good open football the crowds will come (as they were When Brown came ) Because nothing has worked at Huddersfield since the mid sixties as far as I can see.

I take your point that you will support them whatever they play like, and they can win things that way once now and then. But KD continues to keep saying it, ( If we are to go forward we have to get 10,000 crowds) So unless something changes there will be no club to watch.

Anyway good luck to them tonight , We have had some good wins in Pie land, no reason why we can't again, I feel quite optimistic, we are due a top performance, this could be it.

Jo - great post.

What the club needs is a winning mentality. There's a feeling that they're actually a bit happy to finish fourth, happy to be in and amongst, happy to be trundling about with small crowds.

Given the club has little or no interest in selling the club to the people of Huddersfield, the only thing that might bring in a few thousand more through the gates is a couple of winning seasons. But I don't think the players, or the backroom staff, have the balls (in some cases, talent) to make that step up and win things.

Ryan Hinchcliffe is a big signing for us - coming in from a winning culture at Melbourne. I hope he knocks a few heads together, because there's some good players at the Giants who should win things in their career but won't.

*applauds*

Couldn't put it better. The club is stagnant. I think it starts with Thewlis at the top. He's been around for ten years, and actually the club hasn't progressed in that time off the field.

Well, from what I've seen of Blake Solly he's not exactly top notch management material, so I'm not too fussed by what he says.

That said, what progress has the club made in the past ten years off the field?


Jesus, it's only this year that they finally got their s into gear and opened a proper gym for the players and even then it's not actually near a training pitch.

On this note, about five years back I gave a colleague a lift to the station and we were driving along Leeds Road and the players were training. I said to him - that's the Huddersfield Giants training. He was amazed that they trained on a public facility. I hadn't really thought of it, but he was right.

Last week I saw them training there again.



The money that Davy has put in - a lot of it has been ed away.

This.

Huddersfield have done well to become established as a top club in SL. And there's nothing wrong with being happy at finishing 4th when you're used to finishing 10th. But now they need to take the next step, the same one that Leeds had to take under Tony Smith, from the top club least likely to win anything, to actual winners.

From the outside looking in it appears you need more leaders in your squad. You've got Danny Brough who's an excellent player, but is he a leader? I'm not sure who I'd pick out as a leader in your squad.
2 of Leeds best signings were Dave Furner & Andrew Dunneman. IIRC Furner was only at Leeds for 2 years and Dunemann not much longer but the effect they had on the likes of Sinfield, McGuire & Burrow was immense. They, along with Tony Smith, helped turn them from just skilful players to future leaders. Sinfield, McGuire & Burrow then had a similar effect on players like JJB, Ablett.

It seems as if Huddersfield could do with a couple of leaders to start developing the right kind of mentality, which will then feed on itself and spread to others in the squad.

Just a little thing but tonight I noticed Joe Wardle having a right go at his defence on the opposite side of the field following a Wigan try. Now maybe they needed someone to have a go at them but personally I don't think that works. They needed leadership before that point. And certainly didn't need someone having a go at them who'd just given a daft penalty away that gave Wigan an extra set on Hudds line.

I may be wrong, but that's what it looks like from the outside anyway.

totally agree on the mentality thing, again though, impossible to compare us and Leeds.

but those players with that kind of mentality don't grow on trees, hopefully we can start seeing a bit more of that in the next few years,starting with Rapira and Hinchliffe?

We've had plenty of players over the years with winning mentalities- doesn't make it happen though!
A player once said to me during john sharps time that he felt on the field there were too many chiefs and not enough Indians..... Odd thing to say?

Maybe Ken should as Dean Hoyle if they can share Canalside.

The winning mentality meast starts at the top, At the very top, I know it's not as easy for a man like KD who has no RL background, so he has to put people in place who do have a background in RL,
It's absolutely useless for Blake Solly or anybody else to be saying what a well run club the Giants are. Stick that all over the Examiner and see how many extra fans turn up to watch this well run club.
Fans turn up to watch a winning team, and winning teams are made of Footballing teams.
Talk to fans outside Huddersfield about good sides at Huddersfield, and unless they saw the Great side of the fifties they haven't seen a good footballing side in Claret and Gold.

They have had lots of good players ,some very good, but even with those players in the side, Tommy Smails, Ken Bowman, Ken Senior, Don Close, Frank Dyson, they were regarded as a slugging up the middle side , because that's what they were.

When you say It's impossible to compare us to Leeds , I just think why is it. They play with 13 men on the field just like us, When I asked you if you would be happy to swap Leroy for Moon, Wardle for Abblett Brough for Maguire ect, You didn't give me an answer, But I suspect the answer would have been no, as it would from most on this board, and yet they are the team that's winning things

So we have players that are as good and better in some cases, yet they win things , We don't, and when we don't, we pacify ourselves by saying things like ,we cant expect to compete with teams like Leeds, or We got to Wembley that was a great achievement, Look where were 25 years ago.
25 years ago we were climbing out of the third division coached by a man who new what winning was all about. Don't think he was here that long ,as I remember ( more's the pity)

K Davy has sunk a lot of money into the giants, but IMO Boomer was right , there are two many people in the comfort zone, and it starts from high up. until there is a huge change in the mentality of the whole club, on and off the field, and people who are not delivering let go, There will always be half the crowd leaving the stadium saying ,they can stuff that, and the other half making excuses.

jools, there were a lot of odd thing happening on the field during Sharp's time.

£20 for catalans game and a pint or alternative drink, deal on a pie too, fill ya boots



waits for the 'it should be £10' ....

JJ, i didn't answer because quite simply i don't give 2 hoots about Leeds, yes they have good players, who are exciting to watch but they have won exactly the same as us this year....
i see where you're coming from but using Leeds as an example of our failures is wrong IMO, it's like trying to compare Man Utd and Wigan Athletic, you can't, one is a huge club with the ability to attract top people, players, coaches staff etc the other is small club that is just about competing at the top, what i'm saying is that Huddersfield and Leeds are 2 different animals really.

so who do we get rid of that doesn't have a winning mentality and how do we know if they have one or not?

ATEOTD, we can agree to disagree, and you can big Leeds up and their footballing philosophy all you want, but i just don't think there is the interest in and around the town to attract big crowds.

there should be a healthy alternative



in a seriousness though, well done to the club for trying something as the crowd will be awful, but will casual/floating supporters be swayed by a free pint and how ever much of a pie?

maybe we could have offered say £10 to anyone with a ST for any other rugby league club?
or maybe done a deal for town fans? mind you they'd probably support the francostralian team anyway!

That's OK mate we will agree to disagree, You know what you want from the game and your happy with what you get for your money, My point was I will never take that attitude of , we should know our place, I believe we can be as good as any other club.
I'm not a Leeds fan, I picked them because they are the ones who have been winning everything, I could have used other clubs.

4250 there lastnight and that was with no away support

playing friday or sunday doesnt seem to make much difference, after alot of people wanting to keep the sunday slot last season....may aswell switch to friday nights, better atmospheres too

Totally agree. There always seems to be a better atmosphere on Fridays.

Your talking rubbish even on the wakefield gate we are down 600 most Sunday games get 5-6,000 even against the teams with few away fans. If we played ever Friday I could see 3,500 being the norm as people who may have made the effort to go last night would not necessarily do it every other week.

Not every fan lives within 2 miles of the ground and teams that traditionally play on Sundays have to be very careful when they switch as the likes of us and Cas gates dip dramatically on games not on a Sunday and it could be a total disaster in my book. Atmosphere does not pay the bills and hopefully with Thursday games on their last legs moving games to give more rest before such games will be a thing of the past anyway.

In what way are Thursday games on their last legs? What about Friday games?

Poor crowds are not a Friday night phenomenon. They're a usual phenomenon now, and we might as well just address them and make an appointment to view on a Friday. Friday and Thursday night Sky is something that's going to stay.

well sticking to sundays arent improving the gate are they... and from the friday night attendances they are getting much worse if at all and opens things up to potential new support. seems to have worked for the so called bigger clubs who have switched and have a younger demographic of support maybe off the back of it where we lack

anyway sundays it is for now... not that there is many nowadays

but the bigger clubs have always had that support base available to tap into, we haven't
the bigger clubs have had years of success over a 20 year period, we haven't
the big clubs' support is passed down through generations, ours isn't

friday night haven't helped the big clubs get bigger gates than us, them being being clubs has.

i can't see how friday nights would improve the crowds, unless we completely ignore the family aspect of our support and go all out to attract the rowdy 18-30's age group, which, we should have done years ago, especially with the tie in with the uni.

the point is that sticking to sundays hasnt improved our crowds.

and changing to fridays may improve them despite the scare mongering by some that moving will drop crowds

can open up new avenues for us as a club, corporate aswell will be more interested