New Huddersfield head coach Lenihan on setting 'clean slate' to build identity

New Huddersfield Giants head coach Jim Lenihan is well aware of the task he has on his hands as he looks to try and turn the club's fortunes around.

The Giants currently sit bottom of the Super League table, with criticisms such as crowd sizes and recruitment regularly levelled at the club.

The Australian takes on the role following the sacking of Luke Robinson on March 22 after Huddersfield lost all five of their opening Super League matches.

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The Giants said they would be looking to employ someone to look towards 2030 and beyond to build a long-term foundation and with that in mind, announced Lenihan on a long-term contract due to his "vision for the club".

🫡 Welcome Jim!#GiantsUnleashed pic.twitter.com/BGo4OHUb3j

Lenihan, who featured 21 times as a player for Huddersfield during the 1999 season, was most recently working as head coach for the Brisbane Tigers in his homeland, Australia.

Before that, he worked as an assistant coach at NRL side Gold Coast Titans from 2019 to 2025, temporarily taking over as interim head coach in 2023.

So, how will he be approaching his time as head coach? First of all, he will be looking to build an identity and be "unapologetically" a team that Huddersfield can have pride in.

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"There are going to be a lot of things to work through and adjust. I think the biggest thing that I like about coaching is coaching towards an identity. I think one, we want to establish who we are here at Huddersfield," Lenihan said.

"Once we establish an identity, I think it's really important to then recruit people to fit that identity and then make sure that we really make Huddersfield proud. Huddersfield's a hard-working, proud area. We want to be a side that represents that.

"It is really important to me that we recruit the right people in and make Huddersfield a place where it's really proud of its football team. I want to be unapologetic about it.

"We want to go out there and it's not going to fix itself quickly, but we've certainly got to have an idea of who we are and what we want to be and then how we go about it."

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While Lenihan has ideas about how recruitment will go, he made it clear that all the players have a clean slate to show that they can fit into the culture he is trying to build.

"I have got to come in here and earn everyone's trust. I've got to earn everyone's respect. And a part of that is coming in and having everyone have a fresh slate, I think to give everyone the opportunity," he added.

"There are no black marks against anyone's name under my way of thinking.

"You are given that respect and it is your actions after that that keep it at that point or slowly erode it. So, we'll certainly, we're always looking at our recruitment and what our moves would be.

"I think that's an ongoing process and a daily process. But, there will certainly be some time for people to change people's minds."

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