Huddersfield Giants head coach Rick Stone admitted Australian full-back Mamo has endured a difficult start to the year, while he welcomed the return of England winger Jermaine McGillvary after a niggling knee injury for the 26-12 defeat by St Helens.

Stone admitted frustration the Giants contributed to their own downfall because he felt they competed pretty well, despite conceding four tries to the Super League leaders in a first home defeat of the season.

But he hss no doubts Mamo will return to the sparkling form he showed last campaign.

“I was pretty bullish about getting Jake here originally,” said Stone, who saw the Giants score tries through Danny Brough and Oliver Roberts.

“But he hasn’t had a lot of training and his first three weeks haven’t been great.

“He’s dropped one and let in a try just before half-time, so he hasn’t had the greatest night.

“As the weather turns a bit and he gets more of an understanding of his role, I’m sure he’ll improve.”

On the return of England winger Jermaine McGillvary, he added: “There wasn’t a lot doing for Jermaine and Saints handled him pretty well.

“It was his first game since the World Cup final, so it was a big ask to expect him to hit the ground running and be as good as he was in 2017.

“I’m happy to see Jerry play and come through unscathed.

“He had a significant step in the right direction and I’m sure he’ll get better after that run.”

Coach Justin Holbrook expressed his pride in St Helens’ defensive effort after they made it three straight victories.

Saints were the pre-season favourites to win the Grand Final and they have underlined their title credentials in the opening month of the 2018 season.

After demolishing Castleford in their first game St Helens dug deep with 12 men to defeat Catalans Dragons and picked up where they left off after the two-week break against the Giants.

“I’m really proud of the boys to get a win here,” he said.

“It’s a tough place to play. Huddersfield make it hard and play tough footy.

“It felt like about 20 minutes they had the ball on our line in the first half. That’s why I say I’m really proud of the boys.

“We were poor with the ball and tried to force our hand a bit through the lack of possession we had.

“We decided we wanted to score points straight away and that made it hard for us.

“To defend the way we did in that first half and lead at half-time, I couldn’t have been happier after the lack of ball we had.

“You want your defence and attack to go well, but if your attack is off a bit you need to make sure you’re defending well.

“It was a good, tough game and one I’m really happy to win.”

Holbrook has challenged Saints to kick on as they aim to build on a promising start.

“We’ve started well which is pleasing and we want to continue that and keep getting better,” he added.

The Giants were well in the contest when Brough finally found a way through St Helens’ defence to cancel out Jon Wilkin’s early try.

But James Roby crucially took advantage of Mamo’s error on the stroke of half-time and Saints effectively sealed victory through tries from Zeb Taia and Mark Percival after the restart.

Roberts’ powerful finish gave Stone’s men a glimmer of hope heading into the final quarter, but the visitors closed out a comfortable win.