Huddersfield boss Ian Watson expects Warrington to give Aussie star Matt Dufty his debut on Saturday - if they dare “risk” damaging him.
Maverick full-back Dufty, 26, arrived from Canterbury Bulldogs on a two-and-a-half year deal just a few days ago. Troubled Warrington chief Daryl Powell hopes he brings much-needed quality to his side’s nightmarish season and likens him to Wigan’s own exciting Aussie No1 Jai Field. But title-chasing Giants are confident they can keep the ex-St George Illwarra flier in check at John Smith’s Stadium.
Watson, who almost signed Dufty when he was Salford coach five years ago, said: “I fully expect him to play. He’s already said he’s come over to play, not sit on the sidelines. The risk for them is if you throw him in a game in the first week where he’s just flown across from Australia whether he ends up doing himself any damage or not. That's up to them to decide his fate there.
“But we’ve had a little look at him. I know what strengths he can bring. He’s a really good attacking player. Defensively is probably where he gets caught out or things are labelled at him. I’m sure if we work really well to our system we’ll handle him.”
Giants have only named a 19-man squad due to their number of injuries and suspensions. Ex-England centre Leroy Cudjoe was hit with a one-game ban for a dangerous contact in last week’s 13-12 loss at Catalans. But Watson didn’t entertain appealing the suspension.
He said: “We can’t afford to have people missing more games. There was an argument for Leroy but it’s not worth it. Every time we go and challenge they say it's frivolous, we get an extra match and it’s totally pointless.”
Meanwhile, the West Yorkshire club expects to lose the services of Cudjoe’s fellow centre Ricky Leutele. The Samoa star, 32, has yet to tell them if he wants to take up a new contract for next season. He was arguably Super League’s best centre before suffering a knee injury last month.
Wigan and Catalans are reportedly interested and Watson said: “We spoke to his agent a couple of times and his agent keeps telling us he’s going to go somewhere else. The biggest thing now for us is we’ve got to a point where we have to move on. We’re looking at other targets now.”
