still doesn’t know why he was bombed out of - but that’s driving him on to flourish with .

The Aussie hooker can’t wait to start life in Super League after his NRL frustrations. Woolford was Ricky Stuart’s starting No9 in 2022 and 2023, playing almost 40 first-grade games.

But he was unexpectedly cast off to the reserves by the veteran Raiders head coach last year and appeared just once in the NRL. Asked if he’d ever got a reason from the famously volatile Stuart, Woolford admitted: “Not really. It was tough. Outside of footy we get on really well. We still do. The day before I left to come to England I went in there and said ‘goodbye’ to everyone. It wasn’t like it was a personal thing. It was just something about my footy.

“That was probably the most frustrating thing: I never got a straight answer. He kind of danced around it and refused to pick me that last year, which is because the two years I played before we had reasonable success.

"We made the finals twice. It is what it is. It’s rugby league and full of different opinions and that’s the way it went.”

Woolford, 28, instead took up the option to join Huddersfield and has a point to prove. He said: "I definitely feel like that and know I haven’t reached anywhere near my ceiling. I don't think Canberra felt I could get to the heights I’m capable of. “Hopefully I reach that here with Huddersfield, win some games and do some good things.”

His dad Simon Woolford - nicknamed ‘Germ’ - was coach of the West Yorkshire club from 2018 to 2020 so he’s had plenty of insight. But has that unsavoury nickname passed down a generation? Woolford replied: “Yes.

“I thought I’d avoided it. And then a coach of mine at the Bulldogs - Jim Dymock - who played against dad, he started calling me and it just stuck. I went back to Canberra and it just followed. Now people call me Germ here. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get rid of it.”

It's proving surreal for Huddersfield prop Matty English, though, one of those Giants stars who still remain from playing under Woolford's dad.

Woolford explained: “It’s been funny. For the first two weeks I was here, every time I’d say anything, Matty would just shake his head and say: “It’s like I’m seeing double.”

Woolford picked up a slight ankle knock in last week’s training camp in Spain so doesn’t debut in Saturday's friendly against Bradford. But he should be fit for the Super League opener against Warrington on February 16.

And he's relishing working under Luke Robinson, the ex-England hooker preparing for his first full season as Huddersfield head coach. Woolford said: "I feel we see the game very similarly. We have similar views on most things and the main thing is he backs me.

"He fills me with a lot of confidence. It’s really nice to have, knowing that he believes in me and, the way I play, he’s buying into it. That’s all I can really ask for. I feel really good going into the year and can’t wait to get started.

"Robbo was an assistant under my dad and he and my dad keep in touch. I met him a few years ago when I came over to see my dad and that helped.""

• The RFL have agreed to “reconsider” changes to the disciplinary process which would see points carried over from last year’s charges.