Huddersfield Giants new head of strength and conditioning John Noonan is delighted with the start that has been made ahead of the 2016 Super League season.

Three weeks into the pre-season training programme the 30-year-old, who replaced Greg Brown in the role, is happy that the players are settling to his new regime as he seeks to build the squad head coach Paul Anderson requires.

“The boys have been really welcoming and really accommodating of change,” said Noonan, who has been handed a two-year contract and has had previous roles in rugby league, with Yorkshire Carnegie in rugby union, Olympic snowsports and in football with Chelsea, Hull City and Scunthorpe United.

“We’ve tried to freshen it up and are paying high amounts of attention to detail on exactly what they need.

“We have to deliver on what Paul needs and the style of play he would like to run with – our programme has to reflect that.”

Noonan is aiming to find a perfect fit for each player and for new signings Ryan Hinchcliffe and Sam Rapira, signed from NRL oufits Melbourne Stom and New Zealand Warriors, their long journeys have been taken into consideration as they started training with the Giants.

Giants back for pre-season training. Head of strength and conditioning John Noonan puts the players through some vigorous training.

“Things like acclimatising are factors we need to consider,” said Noonan.

“Certainly in the first week or two the time difference is something which is taken into consideration and recognising when to push them and when not to push – but they’re acclimatising really well.”

Noonan says one-to-one meetings with the players have been essential to tailor a specific training programme to their needs.

“We have one-to-one meetings frequently to make sure that we’re delivering programmes based around the players needs,” explained Noonan. “It’s very much a relationship and partnership, not a dictatorship.”

Coming from a varied sporting background, Noonan brings a wealth of experience and methods to the Giants.

“My most recent role with Olympic winter sports allowed us to get very attention to detail with our programming and how we delivered aspects of our programme,” said Noonan.

“Firstly, it’s about getting the basics right and then we can sit down with each of the players and figure out what aspects of the game they want to improve.”

But Noonan stressed that it is important to also work as a team.

“The first presentation I gave to the group is that our aim is to make sure that we are the best prepared team in the league,” said Noonan.

“We’ll do our utmost to make sure that is the case. Everybody is on board and driving towards the same goal.

“The work is about as intense as you’d expect a pre-season to be.

“We’ve got a very busy schedule, but right now every Super League team will be doing double days of training, if not triple.

“There’s a high amount of ownership on the players, but there’s also a high amount of accountability on us as coaches to deliver a programme which gets the players as best prepared as possible.”