SUPER League Man of Steel Brett Hodgson is ready to lead a Giants side into pre-season action at Castleford tonight (7.30) which he believes is in excellent shape.

Although Huddersfield head to The Jungle on the back of a disrupted month due to the weather and last week’s ill-fated pre-season camp in Newcastle, the Giants captain is confident his club can have another big season.

It’s a prediction that could be backed up this evening when Huddersfield do battle against a full-strength Tigers team.

Apart from those players in rehabilitation, every senior member of the Galpharm squad will be having a run-out, including new signings David Fa’alogo, Lee Gilmour, Scott Grix and Graeme Horne.

And Hodgson sees no reason why the Giants class of 2010 won’t give an excellent all-round account of themselves.

“After all the frustration of the past month or so, we can’t wait for tonight,” said Hodgson.

“We’ve obviously been severely hampered by the weather and the events that took place in Newcastle, but we feel ready to play.

“Tonight is a very important night, because it’s the first time the senior players have had a run-out. We would, of course, have played in Eorl’s testimonial game if it hadn’t been cancelled, so this game is our opportunity to test things out before the start of the season.

“But we are fairly confident things can go well.

“When I arrived here just after Christmas I was impressed with the shape all the players were in. They’d obviously put in a lot of work on the fitness front and that should bode well.

“Since then we have been able to do some team work stuff, although it has of course been affected by the weather.

“As a result, we know we’re not going to be perfect tonight, and in that sense the score doesn’t really matter too much.

“This is the chance to put some things into practice on the competitive field, and for Browny to gauge the way everything is falling into place.”

Although there will be a number of new faces on show, Hodgson is confident the side will gel relatively quickly.

Part of the reason for that is the fact the Giants will be running with the same players in the same pivotal positions as last season – Kevin Brown and Luke Robinson at half-back, Hodgson at full-back and Shaun Lunt at hooker – and that adds to the Australian’s confidence.

“We’re hoping this will count in our favour and it doesn’t take long for everything to slot into place,” he added.

“I can imagine it will be a lot harder for a side like Bradford Bulls to get their combinations right immediately, because they’ll have a completely new half-back partnership. At least I hope that’s the case seeing as we play them first in the League!

“After tonight, we’ll have more idea of how everything is going for us, which is obviously the main priority.”