BROWN FOCUSED ON HARLEQUINS CHALLENGE

Nathan Brown spoke to giantsrl.com this week as the Giants look ahead to this Sunday’s Engage Super League Round 23 clash at home to Harlequins RL (3pm).

Brown is keen for his side to bounce back from last Friday’s narrow 21-20 defeat against Leeds Rhinos as they prepare to welcome Brian McDermott’s side to the Galpharm Stadium and highlighted the positives of last weeks

“The seventeen blokes that went out there last week can feel like they did a pretty good job, we scored more tries than Leeds and it’s not very often that they will win a game having scored less tries than their opposition. There were so many more good things to come out of that game than there were bad, so we’ve got to make sure we take the good things and build on them. There are one or two little areas in the latter parts of games that we are leading that we can do a bit better and the players are well aware of that.

“We know that if we can keep putting ourselves into a possible winning situation against sides like Leeds or Wigan, then we need to execute the correct plays at the end of the game to come away with the win. That can be the difference between the top two or three sides and the next batch of sides.”

He also highlighted the contributions of a number of players who have rose to prominence in recent weeks;

“I think if you take the recent Castleford game out of the equation, then our last five or six weeks is definitely looking up. There are a lot of blokes such as Graeme Horne and Larne Patrick, who have gone from being outside of the first seventeen at the start of the year, to players who have come in and done a really good job. They are making a big difference to us regardless of whether they start the game or come off the bench.

“Leroy Cudjoe has gone from being a solid player to a good player and someone we look too now he is playing in the centres, he has taken over from Paul Whatuira in many ways, albeit on the other side of the field. It’s great when players progress to another level and when you put blokes alongside them like Brett Hodgson and David Fa’alogo, then they are only going to improve again. There have been some really big positives that have come out of the tougher period of the year for us.”

Brown revealed his admiration for the attacking style of play adopted by the side from the capital and anticipates a tough fixture.

“They had a horrible start to the year with injuries and they were to key players as well. Players were missing and that was always going to hinder them, but since they have had them back they have beaten some good sides and taken some real scalps. The thing I like about them is that they do some things different and play a bit of footy, they are certainly not a boring side and they challenge you more than a lot of other sides. If there game is on then they are as hard to beat as any other.”