Paul Anderson wants to employ a full-time nutritionist to give the Huddersfield Giants some extra Super League bite.

Many of their top-flight rivals already have a food expert on board, with the task of designing individual diet plans for the players at the top of their agenda.

And given the increased pre-season training workload this time around, Huddersfield head coach Anderson knows a club nutritionist could be worth their weight in gold.

“In many areas we believe we’re right up there in terms of preparing our players, particularly now we’ve got our own custom-made gym,” said Anderson.

“But an area where we can improve is on the nutrition side.

“We desperately need some help there. With the volume of training we’re putting everyone through, it’s vitally important the players have exactly the right food they need to keep them healthy.

“We do have a certain amount of knowledge, but nutrition is a very specialist area and some expert help right now would prove invaluable.

“All the teams we’re competing with already have full-time nutritionists, and it would be good for us to be in a similar position at some stage. It can make a huge difference.”

But Anderson knows in the short term the players themselves will make sure they’re not tempted to eat the wrong things over Christmas.

“The players obviously have a rough idea what’s good and not so good for them,” added Anderson.

“They’ve worked so hard to get themselves in good shape that I don’t expect them to let things slip over the Christmas period. Eating the right things is part of that process.

“I also know we’ll see a lot of the players in the gym over Christmas, because they’ve made it clear that’s what they intend to do.

“Because of the work they’ve done – last week was the toughest yet – it’s important they do take a bit of a break next week, but there’s certainly no harm in doing a bit of work and (head conditioner) Greg Brown has given everyone a fitness programme to follow.

“At this stage of pre-season, the squad’s at this stage we’d hoped they’d be. It’s now a case of looking forward to seeing them push-on in the New Year as next season draws nearer.”