CONFIDENT Brandon Costin believes he will rise to the challenge of being the Giants' first-choice goalkicker for Super League IX.
New coach Jon Sharp has revealed the Australian will be taking over the goalkicking duties from the reliable Steve McNamara, who left the McAlpine at the end of the season.
Costin has not kicked regularly for two seasons and struggled to find the mark on the rare occasions he was forced to kick at goal during that time.
But he is confident he will be able to slot back into the role with the minimum of fuss and won't let anyone down.
"It won't be a problem, and I'm looking forward to giving it another go," said Costin, who has now recovered from the shoulder operation that forced him to miss the Giants' crucial end-of-season run-in.
"I've kicked regularly before, and during my first spell at Huddersfield I shared the goalkicking duties with Macca (Steve McNamara).
"I kicked with a fair amount of success then, and that's because I was practising the skill on a very regular basis.
"That's something I didn't do last season and it showed when I was forced to attempt the goalkicks.
"But I'm already putting in the practice to get up to scratch now and I'm confident that by the start of the season I'll be spot-on.
"It's a very valuable commodity having a goalkicker whose success rate is around the 80% mark.
"That's what I'll be aiming for next season, and I know that with Jon Sharp giving me help it can be achieved."
Huddersfield do have several back-up kickers, with scrum half Paul White - whose success rate in the Academy has been exceptionally high- top of that list.
Meanwhile, Giants chief executive Ralph Rimmer has refused to be drawn into a slanging match with Bradford Bulls chairman Chris Caisley.
The Odsal supremo has blasted Rimmer's idea to exclude locally- produced players from a reduced Super League salary cap.
Rimmer believes such a system would help develop more top-quality British players, and ultimately give the Lions a greater chance of beating the Australians and reclaim the Ashes.
And the McAlpine boss added that it would make the Bulls re-focus on youth development and "re-order their priorities."
That promoted an immediate response from Caisley who retorted: "who is he to tell me how to run my business.
"When he was at Sheffield he merged them with Huddersfield, which was a farce.
"Now he's running Huddersfield and they can't get a crowd to save their life.
"Quite frankly, if rugby league is going to be run the Ralph Rimmer way, then we are all in bother."
But Rimmer today refused to continue the argument and all he would say is: "It's good to see that Chris does have a sensitive side."
