Danny Levi says Huddersfield Giants made him better as he prepares to return to “best level” in the shape of the NRL

This weekend, Canberra Raiders completed the signing of Huddersfield Giants hooker Danny Levi.

Levi joined the Giants ahead of the 2022 season and was a huge success at the John Smith’s Stadium.

As Huddersfield number nine, he helped the Giants to the Challenge Cup Final for the first time since 2009.

The lively hooker also helped the Giants to third in the league, their joint second highest finish in Super League history again with 2009 as well as 2015.

He was one of the best hookers in Super League last year as he brought energy to the Giants attack and was unlucky to miss out on the Dream Team as legend James Roby took the spot.

His final game was a frustrating play-off defeat against Salford Red Devils which ended with an injury for the number nine.

He then missed out on the World Cup Final as he headed to Australia for personal reasons prior to Samoa’s semi-final clash with England.

He has been replaced at Huddersfield by the returning Nathan Peats from Toulouse Olympique.

He joins Canberra Raiders on a two-year deal as he returns down under and has spoken to the Canberra Times today about the move.

But first thing’s first, he wants to get settled at the club.

“Ricky Stewarts’ main focus is for me to get settled in and find my lungs pretty much,” he said.

“We’ll talk about [season plans] a bit later, but at the moment I’m just getting amongst the boys.”

He also said that his experiences with Huddersfield have made him better and more mature.

“I’m more mature. When I was over there I got to play 80 minutes week in, week out,” he said.

“So that’ll definitely help me out in the long run. The game has slowed down a lot for me.”

Nonetheless, it was always his aim to get back to playing at the “best level” again.

He said:

“My goal was always to get back in the NRL.

“I was supposed to be over there [in England] for two years and I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to come back. I really wanted to get back in the NRL and compete at the best level again.

“I knew the Raiders were a very prestigious club, with a lot of really great history.”