DANNY Houghton says he's determined to take his game to another level next season in order to fulfil his Hull FC and England ambitions.
Houghton, last season's players' player of the year, was one of the Black and Whites' best players throughout 2012, with some fans questioning his omission from the England Autumn international series.
Selected for the England Knights team and appointed captain, Houghton's Autumn was bitter-sweet, having once again been overlooked for the senior side.
Desperate to not miss out when the World Cup arrives in England at the end of next season, Houghton admits he is going to have to improve again if he is to convince Steve McNamara he is worthy of a place in his squad.
"I'll obviously have to improve because my performances last season were not enough to get me into the squad," Houghton told the Mail.
"I need to do better next year and that's the aim with a World Cup coming up.
"It is the biggest tournament in the world to play in, everyone wants to be involved and I'm no different. It is a long way away and first I'll focus on my training for Hull and getting prepared for Super League."
Houghton returned to pre-season training this week, with the hooker playing catch-up having still been on England duty when some Hull team-mates started training seven weeks ago.
Working on his fitness first, the key figure says he'll focus his pre-season on improving his kicking game too.
"There is still loads for me to work on in my game," added Houghton.
"Towards the middle of last year I began to kick more in games and that is something I'd like to work on and do more of. There are lots of areas to improve, though, and my aim now is to get into the senior England team."
