NATHAN Brown paid tribute to the brave effort of his team, after being edged in the closing stages of the game at Huddersfield.

He believes the spirit they showed augurs well for the play-offs –as long as they can replicate that effort.

He said: “The boys were super coping with being a man down for nearly 60 minutes. They got three tries and one was from a kick and another from an intercept. I don’t think anyone is going to be disappointed with what the guys did out there.

“It was certainly the best loss I have ever been involved with.”

With regards to Alex Walmsley’s sending off Brown said his view had not been that good of it from the stand.

But he said: “If Alex’s first point of contact has got Robbo (Luke Robinson) then he obviously deserves sending off. If he hasn’t contact with the head and the whiplash motion has made Robbo’s head hit him then it’s not a good decision.

“I can’t tell from where I sit because the screen is so far away, but if the initial contact is with the head then the referee has no other decision.

“We were doing pretty well at that point, but credit to Huddersfield for winning the game.”

The loss means that the destiny of the shield is now out of their hands, and they will be looking for a favour from Catalan in Perpignan on Saturday evening.

“We would have liked to have won tonight and got the shield, the players showed that they wanted to win it for the group and the fans,” Brown said.

“Whatever happens tomorrow will happen – we will be first or second so we will play Wigan or Huddersfield at Langtree next week.

“If the guys bring that commitment, regardless who we don’t have I am sure we’ll give ourselves some sort of chance.

“Everyone saw tonight we deserve to be league leaders and overcome a lot that has gone against us, but tonight explains why we are where we are on the table.”