Danny Brough has signed a five-year contract with Huddersfield Giants, allaying supporter concern the club’s recent success was about to come to an abrupt end.
There have been rumblings amongst fans who bet on rugby that Huddersfield, a relatively small club in the northern belt, cannot sustain their current good form amid the likes of more heavily supported teams Leeds, Wigan and Warrington. Yet Brough’s new contract proves what boss Paul Anderson is trying to do to this Huddersfield side: create a genuine rival to Super League’s regular winners.
Brough is the engine of this team, having risen over the past three years to orchestrate a Giants attack on the Super League Leader’s Shield. The half-back has scored 237 points this season – more than any other Super League player – and is only going to bag more and we head into the business end of the campaign. Steve McNamara wrongly overlooked him for England World Cup selection, so he will instead play for Scotland.
England’s loss is certainly Scotland’s gain, for Brough encapsulates the professionalism and quality required to perform on the world stage. While his game has improved at Huddersfield, his teammates have also stepped up. Eorl Crabtree is enjoying his best season in a Giants shirt while both Leroy Cudjoe and Jermaine McGillvary are scoring for fun.
What is possibly most impressive, however, is Brough’s work with hooker Luke Robinson, who has also improved this term. Fans who use the bet365 rugby betting site will tell you the pair orchestrate Huddersfield’s passing and kicking games so well that they can pluck out territorial advantage from nowhere. Robinson is the passer and Brough the kicker, much like Leeds’ Burrow-Sinfield partnership, and that sort of quality when distributing the ball injects real confidence throughout the side.
Giants fans will tell you the team often struggled with the simple stuff; losing possession in their own half through basic handling errors and games through defensive indiscipline. Those mistakes are now a thing of the past and with Anderson in charge Huddersfield are only going to get stronger, which is maybe why Brough signed the rest of his career over to the Yorkshire club.
