Watson aims for sustained success after signing new deal

By Conor Murphy & Cameron Deacon

After signing a new four year deal ahead of Magic Weekend, Ian Watson has indicated his motivations that led to him committing his future to the Huddersfield Giants, wanting to complete the job he was recruited for - making the Giants a consistent challenger for silverware. 

"There's a great potential at this club and there's a great story building here at Huddersfield Giants. When I first got here, the challenge was to create an organisation that could challenge the top four, could challenge for Challenge Cup Finals and for Grand Finals" said Watson, who led the Giants to their first Challenge Cup Final in 13 years back in May.

The Giants had been famed for an excellent Youth System prior to Watson's arrival, and the former Salford Red Devils Head Coach believes that the job at hand - to improve the first team and win trophies - is heading in the right direction and will allow the club's academy and player pathway to become better and make that success more consistent.

"We just needed to get it right at the top end, and then the Academy and Youth System can get better and better and sustain what we're doing. We're moving in the right direction and we're doing much better at first team level and that will filter through and make that success sustainable."

Watson stressed the need for the processes, something that will be familiar to many who've followed the Giants since his arrival, and lauded the synergy in the club between the Youth System, the First Team and the Management of the club.

"My big thing has always been about the processes: making sure our processes and performances are right and we're performing as we should do. We want to be a competitive club, not just a first team. We want the processes to work all the way from Scholarship to First Team. This club is really well aligned with Steve Fox in the Scholarship, Tom Tsang in the Academy and Andy Kelly as Head of Rugby. We've also been having loads of conversations with Ken (Davy) & Richard (Thewlis) about the direction of the club and everyone's on the same page and that's how we need to keep it going forward."

On the current season, Watson has been impressed with the sides ability to dig in during the 2022 Season, with the Giants second in the Super League charts for tries in the last ten games and having come from behind a number of times over the year. 

"The resilience of the team and the mentality of how they play the game is changing. The players are always looking for direction and a clear role and that is hopefully what we're providing them with at the moment - we give them clear direction as to how we want to approach the game, and we adjust it based on who we're playing. They know their role within the team and we keep encouraging the individual to continuously identify that role within the squad."

Looking at the plan for the next four years, the Giants Head Coach urged the need for consistency and to continue to strive to be the best in the game. By 2026, he says, he'd like to fill up the trophy cabinet for the Giants and end the 60 year drought for major silverware and have built a conveyor belt that produces young players that can maintain success in the long-term. 

"We want to be looked at like Wigan & St Helens - you want to be striving to be the best or you're wasting your time. By 2026, we want to have won trophies and it's be there and competing. We want the youth players coming into the team and sustaining what we're building here today."