Huddersfield Giants and Catalans Dragons went to battle on Saturday evening for the third time this season, as Luke Robinson’s Giants earned their first home victory of the season with a 18-6 win.

Here are our talking points, in what was the 50th Super League meeting between the two sides: 

Giants secure first home win: 

For the first time since the final game of last season, Huddersfield emerged victorious at the Accu Stadium. 

Two tries from talented fullback George Flanagan Jr helped Luke Robinson’s side earn their first home win of the campaign. 

The Giants will be hoping to use this momentum as we approach the end of the year, where Huddersfield have three more home games before the season is over. 

Huddersfield’s star boy: 

When Huddersfield have had success this year, despite there not being a lot of it, it tends to revolve around young full back Flanagan Jr. 

Once again, he was the star of the show, opening the scoring after creating an overlap from a scrum on the right edge before racing 20m to score his seventh try of the season. 

In the second half, the youngster was crucial again, this time from a defensive standpoint. After Catalans broke free, he was tasked with a two-on-one and making the wrong decision would result in a try. Fortunately for Huddersfield, Flanagan made the right call and managed to knock down the pass and save a certain four-pointer. 

Catalans managed to add one back, but after adding a penalty goal to make the scores 14-6, he then sealed the victory with his second try of the evening, running a short ball of Kieran Rush with seven minutes remaining. Despite missing the final conversion, it would still be enough to see out the victory. 

Flanagan Jr is undoubtedly Huddersfield’s hottest prospect, and injuries to spine players Niall Evalds, Adam Clune and Tui Lolohea meant that the 20-year-old has been given an extended run in the first team. It is hard to imagine him not earning a starting jersey in 2026 after such a breakout year. 

Bayley Sironen sees yellow: 

After a scrappy opening half with multiple errors from both sides, the Perpignan outfit, trailing 6-0 at this point, suffered another blow as second rower Bayley Sironen was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle on Giants prop Matty English in the 31st minute. 

Players from both sides ran in, causing referee Aaron Moore to stop the game. That caused the video referee Marcus Griffiths to take a look, and decided the tackle was worth 10 minutes in the sin bin. 

The Dragons were made to pay for their error, as Huddersfield managed to score just before the break and make use of the one-man advantage. Luke Keary’s pass to Arthur Romano was intercepted by Jacob Gagai, who ran 40m to score. Flanagan’s conversion made for a 12-0 half time scoreline. 

Huddersfield Giants owner issues stadium update: 

At half time, Giants owner and chairman Ken Davy spoke to Sky Sports’ Rod Studd to give an update on the current situation regarding where Huddersfield will be playing in 2026. 

This year, Davy made a bid to buy The Shay, home of Halifax Panthers and FC Halifax Town. However, plans are still undecided as to where the home of the Giants will be next year. 

“It’s too early to say,” said Davy. “There’s a few options available in regards to ‘26. We should know within the next six-eight weeks.” 

“This wonderful stadium that we are in now is just too big for Huddersfield Giants, and we need to get a stadium that’s more suitable to our side. The atmosphere that we had when we played Wigan at Dewsbury recently was probably the best atmosphere we’ve had apart from the night we won the league leaders shield.”

Davy wants a new purpose-built stadium for the Giants, but planning permission has halted progress. Last month, it was announced that Ralph Rimmer re-join the club to assist in the new project. 

Huddersfield Giants: George Flanagan Jr, Jacob Gagai, Taane Milne, Jake Bibby, Sam Halsall, Kieran Rush, Matt Frawley, Fenton Rogers, Zac Woolford, Tristan Powell, Harry Rushton, Joe Greenwood, Leroy Cudjoe 

Subs: Ashton Golding, Matty English, George King, Oliver Wilson.

Catalans Dragons: Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet, Tommy Makinson, Arthur Romano, Matthieu Laguerre, Leo Darrelatour, Luke Keary, Theo Fages, Franck Maria, Alrix Da Costa, Romain Navarette, Bayley Sironen, Benjamin Garcia, Oliver Partington 

Subs: Tariq Sims, Chris Satae, Jordan Dezaria, Denive Balmforth