By his own admission, Ryan Brierley admits that the last few months have been a ‘dream come true’, and he will fulfil one more ambition of his tonight.
Brierley emphatically made his presence felt in Super League last week as he opened his Huddersfield account with a stunning hat-trick in the Giants’ narrow defeat to Wigan.
Just scoring in Super League was a life ambition fulfilled for Brierley, and he will tick another one off on Friday as he takes on Leeds Rhinos in league action.
The 24-year-old has played against Leeds before in the Challenge Cup, but doing so in league action makes it even more special for Brierley, who was widely reported to be joining the Rhinos ahead of his move to Huddersfield.
“It’s really humbling to be sharing the field with the top class players at Leeds Rhinos,” he said.
“They’re all outstanding players. I’ve said before that I’m living the dream, and if you look at our squad I’m in an environment on a daily basis with players like Jermaine McGillvary and Danny Brough. They’re world class players that I’ve admired for a long time. To be sharing the field with those players is a special occasion for me every time and it never gets boring. I’m just loving life as a Super League player and playing the sport we all love.”
The occasion may lack an extra bit of magic for Brierley, with close friend Zak Hardaker and boyhood idol Danny McGuire both missing for the Rhinos, but the former Leigh star knows that emotions can’t get in the way as Huddersfield look to rejuvenate their season as they push for the top eight.
“The thing for us at first was that we just weren’t playing well. But Paul Anderson and Kieron Purtill have worked really hard at finding a formula that works for us, and we’ve got that now. The key for us is to keep playing well because we know if we do that we’ll start to fall on the right side of these scorelines. There’s no panic stations or anything like that because we’re playing well. If we keep doing our job we’ll be happy with our performances and we’ll get our two points more often than not.”
