Huddersfield Giants placing focus on improved fitness levels, says Danny Brough

The Fartowners endured the ignominy of falling from fourth to 12th in the space of just 12 months and came close to relegation in the Qualifiers.

Australian Stone only took over in July and had limited time to work with them.

But having now had a full off-season to instil his beliefs, veteran stand-off Brough believes they are well on course for the start of Super League in a fortnight and a more prosperous campaign.

“We’re preparing pretty well and I think we’re in front of where we were last year fitness-wise,” said the Scotland captain.

“We’ve done a lot more this time as we felt we were losing at the back end of games.

“That shot us in the foot and that’s why we finished bottom of the league.

“He’s quite a strict bloke is Rick. He just wants the best for the Giants and hopefully he can bring that out of us.

“We’re a lot fitter now and hopefully we can get the skills under our belt and start the season really well, too.”

Huddersfield duo Jermaine McGillvary and Leroy Cudjoe were named in England’s 31-man elite performance squad yesterday.

Stone will certainly look to his wing/centre duo to bring their international quality from the off when they open at Widnes Vikings.

He also confirmed Australian prop Shannon Wakeman will arrive in the country on Saturday while full-back Jake Mamo, signed from his former club Newcastle Knights, is set to finally join up next Wednesday.

It could mean another new signing, Bradford Bulls stand-off Lee Gaskell, might start the season at No 1 instead as Mamo gets up to speed.