Five games with five defeats meant the end for Huddersfield Giants head coach Luke Robinson, the first Super League casualty of the season. On Sunday, after 18 months and 47 games in charge, Robinson was sacked.
Huddersfield announced the news in a statement of just two sentences. Shockingly, nothing was made to acknowledge the career contribution of the 41-year-old to the club, who made 238 appearances as a player from 2008 to 2015, and spent a decade as an academy coach and first-team assistant.
The decision by Super League’s basket case came as a surprise to few, despite their crippling injury crisis. Huddersfield are in a downward cycle that they have rarely gotten out of for the past decade.
A Giant problem
Huddersfield Giants have fallen on hard times as of late (Photo: Getty)Since 2016 when Paul Anderson was axed, the Giants have gone through four permanent coaches and four interim ones.
In that period, the club have made the play-offs just twice. In 2022 Huddersfield finished third and reached the Challenge Cup final. But apart from that rare bright spot, the Giants have struggled on and off the field.
Poor recruitment, injury issues, the inability to keep hold of their best players, poor results, a dwindling fanbase and a stadium too big for them to fill, not to mention non-existent leadership, have all combined to wreak havoc.
It is something former player and coach Phil Veivers knows all too well.
“Wherever you look at Huddersfield, it’s a tough gig,” The 61-year-old tells The i Paper.
“The support base isn’t great, it’s not huge is it, when you look at the figures coming through the gate. For a long time, Ken Davy [club owner] has been banging a lot of money in. Every year he puts a six-figure fee in there to help the club go along.“But I feel for Luke. The amount of injuries he’s had this year and whoever comes in now to take over, are pretty much going to be in the same situation as Luke was. It’s a tough ask.”
The birthplace of rugby league
The sport was founded at the George Hotel in 1895 (Photo: PA)Huddersfield is the birthplace of rugby league, the home of the George Hotel where 22 clubs met in 1895 to break away from the Rugby Football Union and form the Northern Union. But the club have largely underachieved for more than 60 years, with their last major trophy coming in 1962.
Huddersfield won the League Leader’s Shield in 2013 under Anderson, but have never won Super League nor reached a Grand Final. The Giants’ home attendance dropped to an average of 4,507 last year, and supporters are increasingly unhappy with the state of play.
“The way the club has treated its legends the last decade is diabolical,” Ben Simpson, a fan of 17 years, says.
“Only Leroy Cudjoe’s retirement was handled well by the club. Danny Brough, Jerry McGillvary, Luke Robinson are the ones that stand out.“Their departures should have been huge deals, but each time the club completely failed to do their service justice. Hearing Jermaine talk about his experience was heartbreaking and it’s the reason we won’t keep hold of any promising junior players and see success again any time soon.”
Overseas signings such as Tom Burgess and Taane Milne have failed to fire, while local juniors like Jake Connor and Jake Wardle have thrived at other clubs. Every season Huddersfield seem to be hit with a large injury count, leading to doubts over the club’s training methods and preparation.
“The tough thing is to get the interest of players to go to Huddersfield,” Veivers admits.
“At the end of the day, it’s a short lifespan as a professional rugby league player and you want success.
“You’re going to go looking for success elsewhere if you’re not getting it on your doorstep.”
The stadium issue
The Accu Stadium has been the home of Huddersfield Giants since 1994 (Photo: Getty)The Giants are in no man’s land when it comes to their home ground. They share the 24,121-capacity Accu Stadium with Huddersfield Town, but are looking for a new facility nearby because of its lack of atmosphere.
“I’m fed up of hearing that Huddersfield is a welcoming ground for teams to come to,” Simpson says.
“It should be a fortress! Players have told me on numerous occasions that it can feel like an away day in your own stadium.”
However, Kirklees Council has blocked the club’s proposed new stadium site in the city and Huddersfield owner Ken Davy is purchasing The Shay in Halifax, with the intent to play home games there, eight miles away.
Questions remain, though, about how many Giants fans will follow the club to the neighbouring town.
“I don’t know if Halifax will work but I do believe the stadium is an issue for them,” Veivers says.
“The stadium is too big, I think it will be a short-term stint if they do go there.
“If they take Huddersfield out of the town then they’re going to have less people that support them then they do now.”
Publicly, the club’s director of change, former RFL chief executive Ralph Rimmer, has claimed confidently that the Giants will be playing in a new stadium in 2030.
The rest of Super League are not convinced. Criticism of how the club have been run by long-time managing director Richard Thewlis, and the lack of dialogue with fans and media, is growing.
“Considering the improbability of a stadium, certainly in time to save us from the Championship, the biggest change needs to be to remove Richard Thewis,” Simpson says.
“This is definitely something shared by other fans, as some are planning protests.”
Also hanging over Huddersfield’s head is their 12th-place ranking in the IMG grades, the rise of rejuvenated London Broncos with new investment, and the threat of relegation. If the Giants do not stop their dramatic decline soon, more pain is on the way.
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