{"id":651212,"date":"2026-06-21T22:23:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T22:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/651212\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T22:23:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T22:23:12","slug":"huddersfield-giants-boss-slams-club-fitness-after-loss-to-st-helens-as-hints-made-at-reshuffle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/651212\/","title":{"rendered":"Huddersfield Giants boss slams club fitness after loss to St Helens as hints made at reshuffle"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Huddersfield Giants are \u2018drastically underdone\u2019 in terms of their fitness according to head coach Jim Lenihan, with the club\u2019s recently-appointed boss critiquing his side after their loss to St Helens.<\/p>\n

St Helens won 36-6 in the sun<\/a> at the BrewDog Stadium in a game that was far closer than the scoreline suggested but Saints four tries in the final 20 minutes ensured defeat for Huddersfield and highlighted Lenihan\u2019s major gripe about the club\u2019s fitness.<\/p>\n

Speaking post-match on Sky Sports, Lenihan admitted that there were signs of improvement, predominantly in the pack and inside the first 60 minutes.<\/p>\n

He admitted: \u201cI thought today we did get some improvement, I think, on our game from last week. I think we took on their middle a little bit more. I thought we dragged them down.<\/p>\n

\u201c20 minutes into the second half, it\u2019s 16-6, we hit a bit of a red line at the back end there. George (Flanagan) went off with cramp, and then we\u2019ve had a few HIAs to contend with through the game, and then we just probably fell away a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

That drop-off was marked with clear nerves around the home fans when the scoreline was 16-6 but Huddersfield fell away and it\u2019s that fatigue that Lenihan is keen to work on.<\/p>\n

He explained: \u201cI felt the way we started the game, the way we got into our second half, we created the weakness in them and put them under fatigue, and we worked really hard at that and now we\u2019re on the journey of working through our own fatigue and getting better in that space.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were certainly some green ticks in there today and there\u2019s certainly some things we\u2019ve got to keep working on, but the contact and the effort that goes into trying to create weaknesses in the other team was really important enough today, and I felt like we did that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sir Kevin Sinfield, play-off race heats up and who can stop Wigan Warriors?\u00a0\u2013 Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show.<\/a><\/p>\n

Huddersfield Giants\u2019 fatigue costly in loss to St Helens<\/p>\n

Defeat today marked the Giants\u2019 13th loss in 15 Super League games with Lenihan in charge for the last three of those, in all of which Huddersfield have conceded 36 or 38 points.<\/p>\n

Though the wait for a win continues, Lenihan has explained that winning is not what matters currently, but instead improving in each and every area, with fitness being a key one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said it before, it doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s ten more weeks and we don\u2019t have a win. That\u2019s not the important part to us at the moment,\u201d he exclaimed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re building a game into us, we\u2019re building a mentality into us, and that\u2019s not going to come quickly, and it doesn\u2019t come by just trying to cheat a quick try here and there.\u201d<\/p>\n

On fitness, he said:\u00a0\u201cI think today we might have had, like, three or four HIAs. We\u2019ve got to work harder at our contact, we\u2019ve got to keep working harder at being fitter. I think we are drastically underdone in our fitness compared to the top sides at the moment, so it\u2019s really hard to pick that up in season, and we\u2019re training harder than we\u2019ve done. We\u2019ve got extra days in our week now to do more.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe journey is in one direction and it\u2019s only going to go that same way. We\u2019ve just got to keep working harder and keep getting used to it. Give us a month, four weeks, five weeks, we\u2019ll physically start catching up to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going into games fatigued now because of how much we\u2019re working in the season. But, again, it\u2019s not about winning games quickly for us. It\u2019s now about building a mentality and building a game in the way we want to play our game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another key point that Lenihan made was that the club are now full on cap with the Giants boss stating the club will look come the end of the season at the \u2018opportunity to shuffle some people out\u2019, hinting that he may well put his own mark on the side in the off-season.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWe\u2019re a full deck now, so nothing\u2019s really going to happen until the end of the year. We are what we are, and when the opportunity comes to shuffle some people out at the end of the year, then that\u2019ll be something that we can look at.\u201d<\/p>\n

.@Saints1890<\/a> see out a victory in the sunshine \ud83d\udc4f#SuperLeague<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/CWGATRILyb<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) June 21, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

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