THE Wire will have to be wary of the ‘new coach factor’ when they welcome Huddersfield Giants to The Halliwell Jones Stadium on Saturday, boss Tony Smith says.

Super League’s bottom side are under new management after Rick Stone was appointed as the club’s new head coach last week.

Stone, who guided Fiji to the semi-finals of the 2013 Rugby League World Cup in England, oversaw his first game at the John Smith’s Stadium last weekend as the Giants lost 34-18 to St Helens.

The new coach was critical of his side’s display and Smith says his fellow Australian will have more of an impact this week.

“He only got here last Wednesday so I didn’t expect too much of a change last week,” he said.

“I don’t think he’ll be able to change their systems entirely but he’ll definitely have been able to have more of an effect on their mindset for this game, particularly with some of the stuff he came out publically about so I would expect a response of sorts.

“They’ve got very capable players and we know they can be dangerous so we’ll need to be good.”

One man who has spent plenty of time in Stone’s company is Wolves stand-off Kurt Gidley, who played under him in both of his two spells as head coach of NRL side Newcastle Knights.

Smith, whose brother Brian coached with Stone at Newcastle, says he hopes Gidley can help out in their preparations for the game.

“I’ve met Rick a couple of times and I coached his elder brother Steve at Adelaide years ago,” he said.

“My brother has coached with Rick and is quite good friends with him.

“He’s got a very good reputation as a bloke and as a coach so I look forward to running into him.

“Gids has spoken about what sort of a bloke he is. When we turn our attention to Huddersfield I’m sure Gids will give us a bit of insight as a team as to their style but I think we’ve picked up an idea about his style in some of his comments this week.”

Meanwhile, Smith confirmed young second rower Joe Philbin will make the final appearance of his loan spell at Championship side Bradford this weekend.

The 21-year-old has made four appearances since joining the Bulls, who are coached by Smith’s nephew Rohan, but will return to the Wolves squad for the rest of the season after Bradford’s game at Featherstone on Sunday.