Simon Woolford has revealed what he feels is “non negotiable” from the Huddersfield Giants squad when he arrives to take charge.

The 43-year-old accepts he has a big challenge on his hands to lift the Giants from bottom of the table and ensure they are still playing Super League rugby this time next year.

But he believes, with the help of the staff and players, he can come up with a formula to achieve that goal with an end-of-season revival for the Claret and Gold faithful.

“I look defensively, and we need to be really strong,” said Woolford, who has been working as assistant to former Giants coach Nathan Brown at Newcastle Knights in the Australian NRL.

“Defence is a really important part of the game. Attack is the easy part.

“Everyone loves it when you’ve got the ball, but the defensive side is the tough side.

“So defensively, we need to be really resilient and really work hard for each other - that is non negotiable.

“For any rugby league team at any level, you need to want to be a good defender and you need to want to work hard for your mates.

“That’s really important for any team to be successful in rugby league.”

Woolford also wants to give the Giants licence to make the most of their attacking quality.

“When we have the footy we want to be able to go and play and love to play, but there are other times we need to play safe - so we need to get that balance right,” he said.

“It’s about finding the right time to play footy and the right time to tuck the ball up and get to our kick. That’s a given with any team.”