Chairman's Notes brought to you by BondIt

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to our final BetFred Super League game of the 2021 season. What a season it has been for so many reasons and I’d like to reflect a little today and look forward to next year too.

We started behind closed doors hoping and praying for society to return to a more normal scenario and that process has taken longer than many would have envisaged when we first heard of the Covid-19 virus. We had numerous issues throughout the year and many of our staff and players have suffered from the virus both individually and in family circles as you will have too. 

My sincerest condolences to all who have suffered the ultimate loss and I fervently hope that the back of this horrible situation has been broken and we have a bright future to look forward to. I thank today all the players who started pre-season 2021 with us and will for a multitude of differing reasons be moving on to new clubs at the end of the year and they are Darnell Mcintosh, Lee Gaskell, Aidan Sezer, Kenny Edwards, Joe Wardle, James Cunningham, James Gavet, Sam Wood and Alfie Schultz. 

We also naturally will be welcoming new faces – a number of whom have already been announced this last week in Sebastine Ikanihiho, Nathan Mason and Chris Hill and more will follow over the coming days and weeks. I had the great pleasure (and surprise) half way through the year to become acting Chairman whilst Ken moved to the Super League and like you all I eagerly await the outcome of his work there and his return to his rightful place at our helm here. 

The launch of our 2022 Season cards has been done and we will be trying with your support to ensure that every current member renews and more can be added. The success of this campaign is simply vital to Huddersfield and the game as a whole and I firmly believe that next season under Ian Watson we have an exciting time to look forward to. Today though the challenge in front of us comes from Leigh Centurions who, like us, want to finish in style and go into the break with momentum.

Enjoy the off season and I look forward to seeing you again next year – who knows what it will bring and certainly no one could have predicted the events of this year thus far.

Keith Hellawell

Chairman