Pushing the

three-year contract extension at the John Smith’s back in August.

“There’s going to be a bit of a positional change for me this year – I’ll be playing in the halves – so it’ll be more about getting familiar with the players around me that I’ll be playing with.

“I want to take more of a leadership role within the team and just help the younger guys out as much as I can, and try and help a bit of a culture about the place.

“We did that towards the back end of last year and before I got here, so the boys have taken towards training really well, and like I said before, we’ve all got that common goal to be better than we were last year.

“It means starting with the work in pre-season and from then onwards.”

The former Hull FC player made 11 Giants appearances last season as they made the top eight and revealed his ambition has been to play in the creative department.

“It was a massive reason as to why I signed with the club longterm,” said Rankin, who was a regular at Wests in the 2016 NRL season.

“Stoney saw a long-term future for me in the halves for the club, and that’s somewhere I have wanted to play for a long time.

“I’ve been tossing up between full-back and the halves, and when I was in Australia I was on the wing, so it was a different kettle of fish there.

“I’m really enjoying the opportunity to play here in the halves.”

On his general philosphy and how things are going ahead of the new season, Rankin added: “I go into every year with thoughts that I want to be better than I was the year before and improve.

“There’s never too much improvement as a player, there is always plenty to learn and so I’m looking forward to taking on a new role with the Giants.