Huddersfield reward rookie McGillvary with new deal

The 22-year-old impressed when he broke into the Giants first team last season, scoring five tries in seven appearances and head coach Nathan Brown is pleased to reward McGillvary, who had a spell on loan at Batley last year, with the deal.

"Jermaine is progressing well for the Giants," said Brown. "He has taken some big steps forward from where he was two-and-a-half years ago to where he is now.

"He played a handful of games last year where he impressed and the way he has trained and the improvements he's shown so far in training would suggest he's in for a good year this year.

"For the club going forward I think it is great to have Jermaine on board for the long term.

"With the way Jermaine is training and with what he showed last year he can be confident that he'll get a shot early in the year."

McGillvary was just delighted to have committed his future to his home town club, although he will have a battle on his hands with Michael Lawrence and David Hodgson set to be the first-choice wingers.

"Yes I'm really delighted," said McGillvary. "As soon as the offer came I didn't hesitate to sign it. I want to stay here for as long as I can really.

"Browny (Nathan Brown) is pleased with the way I've been training and he's been giving me loads of encouragement.

"Hopefully I'm giving him a headache for the new season because I'm pushing myself to the limit so there's no reason in my mind why I can't start this season."

Like many of his team-mates, McGillvary has been put through his paces this pre season by new strength and conditioning coach Paul Watson and he is confident it will hold him in good stead going into the pre-season fixtures and the new season's Super League campaign.

"It's one of the toughest pre-seasons that I've ever done," admitted McGillvary.

Pre-season for the Giants includes a trip to Batley Bulldogs on January 9 (2.00), Hull Kingston Rovers in Eorl Crabtree's testimonial on January 16 (2.30) and at St Helens on January 29 (3.00).

"These pre-season fixtures are definitely a good opportunity for me. I need to really perform in these pre-season games to cement my spot and hopefully I can do that and get a start against Warrington on the opening weekend of the season," added McGillvary.

The Giants kick off their new season on February 12 against Warrington Wolves at the Magic Weekend in Cardiff.