Noble wary of ex-Warriors

2:40pm Friday 25th July 2008

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HUDDERSFIELD will have six ex-Wigan players facing their old club in Friday night’s re-arranged engage Super League match at the JJB Stadium, where the Giants will be looking to pull off their first away win for almost 12 months.

Wingers David Hodgson and Martin Aspinwall, half-backs Luke Robinson and Kevin Brown and forwards Stuart Jones and Stephen Wild will all have additional motivation to help the Yorkshire side break their duck, according to Wigan coach Brian Noble.

“They have a lot of ex-Wigan players in their team and they will be out to prove a point,” he said. “They are going to be very enthusiastic.”

Hodgson, who joined Huddersfield from Salford in the close season but had his debut delayed by six months due to a knee injury, is relishing the opportunity to re-visit his old club.

“Going back to the JJB Stadium is always a good place for me to go,” he said. “I had five years there and plenty of good times.

“We won the Challenge Cup while I was there and I managed to make moren than 100 appearances so it holds some good memories for me.”

The match, which was postponed earlier in the season to allow Wigan to relay their pitch, gives the Warriors an opportunity to quickly bounce back from their crushing derby defeat by St Helens.

That followed an equally disappointing performance against Hull KR, and Noble admits time is running out for his side to make an impact in the league.

“Our form needs to improve,” he said. “There are only six games to go. Our enthusiasm was there last week, we need to reinforce that and make sure the quality of our skills are in order.”