St Helens prop Alex Walmsley knows his side is braced for a physical opening-night home challenge against the Giants.

And with both clubs still smarting from play-off semi-final defeats four months ago, the Super League Dream Team front-row forward is also aware it’ll be a clash between two sides desperate to erase the painful memories of missing out on a Grand Final appearance.

While the Giants were beaten 32-8 at Wigan, Walmsley’s Saints were beaten 20-13 at champions Leeds Rhinos.

And the Dewsbury-born star believes that will add extra spice to a fixture that’s full of opening-night promise.

“Both us and Huddersfield have spent the past four months dwelling on semi-final defeats,” said Walmsley, who played at Dewsbury Celtic as a junior and joined St Helens from Batley Bulldogs in 2013.

“I can obviously only speak for ourselves, but if the Giants felt the same way as us after their semi-final defeat, then they won’t be lacking any motivation whatsoever in wanting to start this season strong.

“When you’ve suffered a disappointing defeat – and they don’t get much more disappointing than losing a semi-final – all you want to do is get back out onto the field and get that disappointment out of your system.

“We’ve had four months waiting for that moment, and it has dragged.

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“So this game on Friday night is our chance to get rid of all that frustration, and we can’t wait.

“But with the Giants being in the same boat, it promises to be a very interesting evening.”

And Walmsley is aware his side faces potentially one of the toughest round one opponents.

“We’ve been involved in some good battles with the Giants over the past few seasons, and no-one expects this one to be any different,” added the 25-year-old.

“They’re a big, strong, powerful team, and they’ve looked good in their trial games. There’s been a lot of talk about how they’ve lost a number of big, experienced forwards for the start of this season, but that doesn’t look the case judging by what they did against Hull KR and Catalans.

“The Giants have been talking about how they intend to be even more physical this year, and if that’s the case then they’re going to be right up there again.

“You know that when you’ve got someone like Jermaine McGillvary on the wing and they get even bigger inside of him that they’re going to be a real handful.

“We’re fully aware they’re going to challenge you right across the park, but these are the challenges we enjoy. They’re the ones that bring the best out of you.”