Chris Thorman says Huddersfield Giants realise they need to put a record straight against Salford to grab a ”big opportunity” to jump into the top eight.

The Giants can leapfrog the Red Devils with a victory, but Salford have won their last five meetings with the Claret and Gold – the Giants last triumphing 31-30 away from home in June 2016.

As captain Leroy Cudjoe returns needing two tries to hit 100 for his hometown club – Danny Brough needs three points to go ahead of Lee Briers into fifth in the all-time Super League scoring list – Thorman says the squad and staff have been open and honest about the importance of the match at the AJ Bell Stadium.

“We have spoken about it because we are not going to be naive,” said Thorman, whose side are looking for a fourth straight win.

“It is really difficult to look at that league table at times, because I don’t think it’s where we deserve to be when we are ‘on’.

“Why we haven’t been ‘on’ enough is down to a number of factors and we have discussed our form.

“I like those discussions because it gives you a bit of perspective and accountability, and if you look at the next four, five and six fixtures we play they are against teams around us, especially the next couple, and we are really excited for the challenge.

“We’ve got a really big opportunity.

“We roll into the Salford game full of confidence but, at the same time, recognising our record against them over the last five years is significantly poor.”

Thorman has brought Cudjoe and Daniel Smith into the squad which was successful at Magic Weekend, with Sam Wood and Tyler Dickinson dropping out.

“On form, we have been consistently above Salford over the last few years, but we have not beaten them,” added the boss.

“That’s not good enough, especially when they’ve been around us for the last couple of years.

“It’s a bit of a blip on our copybook and something we are hoping to address this time.”

So what has caused the poor record against Salford?

I think it’s maybe a lack of respect shown to them,” he answered.

“I have a lot of time for Ian Watson, Martin Gleeson and Willie Poching, I think they are good coaches.

“Their squad might not be as strong and deep as some, but it’s not one we will be under-selling at all.

“We will be going all out in terms of our preparation to make sure we give our best performance against them this time around.”