Huddersfield Giants boss admits that waiting for the return of star man Adam Clune is a ‘bit like Christmas’, revealing that he is counting down the days until the half-back is back.

The Giants have had another injury-hit season and Clune has been one of their biggest misses with the former Newcastle Knights man limited to just five appearances in 2026, following on from his six appearances in 2025.

His absence has been one of the reasons why Huddersfield have picked up just two wins this season and it comes as no surprise that he featured in both of those wins, scoring tries in both.

He’s now nearing a return from his hamstring injury with head coach Jim Lenihan telling BBC Radio Leeds that he is counting down the days of the Australian’s return.

“It’s a bit like Christmas, you count down how many sleeps (until) he’s available,” Lenihan revealed.

“There’s some talk that it could be two or three weeks so we’re getting closer with that.”

Both Clune and Sam Halsall (Achilles) could be in line to return for the game against Catalans with the Giants possibly set for a major boost in the final few games of the year.

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Huddersfield Giants man suffers strange injury

Another man on the injury list is Tristan Powell with the forward having suffered a bizarre injury, with a hole rupturing in his trachea.

He too will be hopeful of a return for that Catalans game, with Lenihan explaining: “Tristan Powell is going to be at least another week or two because he’s got a hole in his trachea or oesophagus , somewhere around that sort of space.

“After the game at the weekend, he was actually filling up with air in his chest cavity around his neck so he went to hospital.

“They checked it out and I think it’s stabilised and it’s not leaking air into his body cavity any more but he’ll need a couple of weeks to get over that and then we’ll start to reintegrate him into training to make sure that everything has cleared up there.”

On how such an injury could have happened, Lenihan said: “I’m assuming it’s from tackling and maybe someone’s bumpers have come into his chest or neck area and maybe caused a small or slight tear in the skin around his oesophagus.

“He said he didn’t feel a moment where it really hurt him but it came after the game when he felt a bit funny in his chest and the medical staff could see that his chest was filling up a little bit with air.

“They took him to hospital where had a camera down his throat. His larynx is okay but they couldn’t quite find the small tear anywhere. It’s stabilised and is improving now after a week so hopefully another week or so, it will cover over.”