By BILLY GRIMSHAW
HUDDERSFIELD Giants coach Rick Stone has announced the club have created a captaincy committee comprising three experienced players who will assist new skipper Leroy Cudjoe throughout the year.
Last campaign’s captain Ryan Hinchcliffe, his predecessor and Scotland captain Danny Brough and the long-serving Michael Lawrence will be involved in helping Cudjoe with captaincy duties during the season.
The new on field leader for Huddersfield has a stammer and Stone has explained that the captaincy committee will assist him with tasks such as press conferences which could prove difficult for the England international centre.
Stone, discussing the process of finding a 2017 skipper, said: “One of the things we wanted was to have a player that represented what we wanted from a captain and we believe Leroy has that.
“We also understood he needed support around him and we’ve got three blokes here that can take a bit of pressure off him in different scenarios, whether it’s a press conference like this or at training or on the field.”
The deposed captain, former Melbourne Storm hooker Ryan Hinchcliffe, said of the move: “I was probably a little bit uncomfortable with how it all got handled last year to be honest but Leroy will have the 100 per-cent support of myself and the rest of the boys here.
“Leroy’s the deserved captain. He’s a local boy and his performances are very good every week. I know that he’ll do a good job.”
Cudjoe will lead out the team for the first time in a competitive game as the Giants start their season away at Widnes Vikings on Friday 10th February.
