England World Cup star Leroy Cudjoe expects the Giants to step up another gear in 2014.

And he’s confident the positive signs will be on show in today’s Super League pre-season clash against Hull KR at the John Smith’s Stadium (3.00).

With the cancellation of last weekend’s trial test at Wakefield due to the wet weather, the fixture is Huddersfield’s only warm-up game before their Super League opener at Wigan Warriors in six days’ time.

Cudjoe admits that’s far from ideal.

But the 25-year-old centre, who is looking forward to playing for the first time since suffering the heartache of England’s last-second World Cup semi-final defeat to New Zealand at Wembley, is confident the Giants will immediately re-discover the form that helped them lift the Super League Leaders’ Shield last season.

“Not having a game last weekend came as a bit of a blow to everyone,” said Cudjoe.

“As a result, I’m really looking forward to getting back on the field with the boys today.

“It’ll be good to see where I am in terms of my overall fitness, because I’ve had a shorter pre-season due to my England World Cup commitments.

“From the moment I came back into training I could tell the boys were ready to play.

“Everything has really stepped up this year, and everyone’s confident we can be even stronger this year.

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to show that straight away against Hull KR today.”