SIMON Grix knows Huddersfield Giants will be keen to end their Wolves hoodoo on Sunday, having experienced a similar baron run with Warrington in the past against St Helens.

He is aware of Wolves’ recent record against Giants, which has seen them claim victory in their past nine meetings.

But the 28-year-old recalls Wolves’ record against St Helens, which saw them win only once between 1992 and 2010, and believes this can act as a motivator for either side.

“We had it against Saints for a long time and even when the ability of the teams got closer they still managed to pip us,” he said.

“You always draw on positive past experiences, but it’s a tough game and they’ll be thinking why not this game to change it as we’ll be thinking we want to keep the run going.”

Huddersfield were beaten at Catalan in the last round and Ireland international Grix says increasing competition in the Super League, and abject weather conditions, have led to some unexpected results this season.

“They’ve been pretty good so far and that was a surprise,” added Grix. “We’re not expecting to see the same performance they put in against Catalan.

“That’s the expectation with Huddersfield after their recent success last year and winning the comp, everybody expects them to be smoking people again.

“Generally the competition level has gone up a little bit; certainly a few results which I wouldn’t have picked.

“There are some difficult fixtures out there and, particularly with the weather at the moment, the teams that handle it the best will come out on top.”

With Wolves having won three Challenge Cup crowns and a League Leaders’ Shield during his eight years at the club, Grix understands fans’ expectations are high, but the loose forward feels Tony Smith’s side are still finding their feet.

“The expectations of this club have risen and risen in the time that I have been here and due to that people expect what’s come before them,” he explained.

“We are a different team. That’s not an excuse, we’ve lost players but we all know each other pretty well.

“It’s not so much the players that have left or the players that have come in, it’s the roles that have gone; especially Hodgo (Brett Hodgson) and Briersy (Lee Briers) who managed games pretty well. That’s something we didn’t really have to do with them here.

“We’ve had plenty of time to prepare for it as we knew in pre-season, but you’re not playing games in pre-season and you’re not in that exact position on the field – we all need to take a little bit of slack on the leadership front and come through.”

And Grix, who could face his brother Scott on Sunday, expects the primrose-and-blue troops to put in a performance at Huddersfield.

“Tony’s philosophy is more about performance,” he said. “We’ve not put much together yet, certainly not an 80 minutes we are happy with.

“That’s one thing I want to do, go over there and put in a performance and hopefully the result will take care of itself.”