T'Other Side: Leigh Centurions

T'Other Side: Leigh Centurions

FIRST TEAM SQUAD

LAST TIME OUT

Head Coach John Duffy

John Duffy took over as coach of Swinton Lions in June 2014 following Ian Watson moving to Salford. Although suffering relegation that year, he led them to promotion back to the championship in his first full season. He then, of course, moved to Fev in July 2017 before leaving to take over at Leigh at the end of last year. Last year he also became coach of the Scotland international side.

As a player he was a halfback, starting his career at Warrington but making most of his appearances for Leigh. He played 12 times for Scotland including the 2008 World Cup.

Captain: Micky Higham

Micky Higham ‘retired’ at the end of 2017 but put his boots back on when Leigh were struggling in the early part of last year. He is now, once again, a highly influential member of the Leigh squad.

A local lad he made his début for Leigh in 1999 going on to play for Saint Helens, Wigan and Warrington before his surprise return to Leigh in mid-season of 2015. He has also played for England A, England and Great Britain amassing the huge total of 544 career appearances - so far! When Harrison Hansen departed to Widnes at the end of last July Higham was re-appointed as Leigh Captain.

New Signings

Leigh’s squad for this year has seen even more changes than we have had at Rovers! In fact Nick Gregson and Micky Higham are the only ones left from their 2018 roster!

Dual Registration and Loan Players

Leigh have a dual registration agreement with Saint Helens and in their opening two games four Saints players have appeared for Leigh. Jack Ashworth has been at Saints since 2015. He has also played for Rochdale (2015 - DR) and last year he played 15 times on dual reg for Sheffield. Matty Costello also played for Sheffield on dual reg last year and is a former England Academy player. Prop forward Luke Douglas is an Australian who joined Saints in 2017 after spells at Cronulla Sharks and Gold Coast Titans. In his early days he played for the Junior Kangaroos but nowadays is a Scottish international. Aaron Smith who plays at hooker appeared for four different clubs last year. As well as a solitary sub appearance for Saints he was on loan at Hull Kingston Rovers, York and, of course, Fev.

Leigh currently have Huddersfield halfback Ollie Russell on loan.

The Fev connection

There are no players in the Fev squad who have ever played for Leigh but the current Leigh squad includes two of Fev’s 2018 squad - Martyn Ridyard and Sam Brooks. They have also used Aaron Smith (see above)