T'Other Side: Leigh Centurions

T'Other Side: Leigh Centurions

FIRST TEAM SQUAD

2019 MATCHES

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 over 550 career appearances! When Harrison Hansen departed to Widnes at the end of last July Higham was re-appointed as Leigh Captain.

At the back

Ryan Brierley, fullback or halfback, made his professional début with Leigh in 2012. He transferred to Huddersfield in May 2016 and then moved to Toronto in April 2017. This year he came on loan to Leigh from Toronto and then the move was made permanent at the end of June. He is a Scotland international.

Liam Forsyth, centre, transferred to Leigh from Wigan at the beginning of June. He made his début in 2017 and also played for Swinton that year on dual registration. 2018 saw a repeat of his first season with matches for both Wigan and Swinton. Before his move to Leigh this year he again played for Swinton on dual reg.

Stefan Marsh, wing, started out with Wigan. He made his professional début with Whitehaven (on loan) in 2010. That same year he also made his Wigan début and played for Widnes on dual reg. He played for Widnes again in 2012, this time on loan and moved to Widnes permanently in 2013. He moved to Leigh at the beginning of this season.

Gregg McNally, fullback or wing, began with his hometown club Whitehaven in 2008. The following year he was signed by Huddersfield but spent the whole season back at Whitehaven on loan. In 2010 he went on loan to both Whitehaven and Oldham and in 2011 he finally played his only first team game for Huddersfield as well as playing on loan with Barrow. Then in 2012 he joined Leigh where he stayed until joining Bradford in 2018. He returned to Leigh this year after being released by Bradford for family reasons. He is Leigh’s leading try scorer this season with 16. Gregg is an Irish international. In order to accommodate the recruitment of Ryan Brierley, McNally has recently been playing on the wing.

Iain Thornley, centre, began his career with Wigan in 2012. In 2013 he played for South Wales (DR) and Leigh (loan). In 2015 he played on dual reg for Workington and then, in July, he was signed by Salford. He spent 2016 as a Hull KR player and then from 2017 to 2018 was with Catalans Dragons. In 2010 he played for the England Academy.

In the halves

Leigh have the luxury of a large number of potential half-backs to choose from, more than any other Championship side. Ryan Brierley has recently been playing at fullback despite having played the majority of his career in the halves.

Kevin Brown joined Leigh on loan after from Warrington in August and will be at Leigh until the end of the season. He was injured in pre-season which kept him out of the Warrington side this year.  His career began with Wigan in 2003. During 2006 he went to Huddersfield on loan and then signed for them in 2007. He moved to Widnes in 2013 and then to Warrington in 2017. He captained both Huddersfield and Widnes. He is an England international.

Martyn Ridyard, halfback or fullback, was at Leigh from 2009 to 2017. In 2017 he had a loan spell with Huddersfield. In 2018 he became a Fev player but re-joined Leigh this year.

Ben Reynolds He made his début with Castleford in 2013 and in 2014 played for York on dual reg.. He joined Leigh in 2015 and also played for Doncaster on loan that year. The following year he had a loan spell with Dewsbury. This season he became a Wakefield player and had half a dozen games on loan at Fev before re-joining Leigh in August.

Josh Woods made his début with Wigan in 2017. Last year he also played with Swinton on dual reg. He joined Leigh this year.

At hooker

Liam Hood was a Leeds player from 2009 to 2014. During his time at Leeds he also played on loan or dual reg for Dewsbury (2012), Hunslet (2013 and 2014). In 2015 he was at Salford and then moved to Swinton in 2016 but in March he transferred to Leigh. This year he signed for Widnes but transferred back to Leigh in March. He is a Scotland international. He usually starts on the bench with Micky Higham starting.

In the pack

Toby Adamson, second row, started with Salford in 2010 but only ever made one off-the-bench appearance for them. In June 2012 he moved to North Wales and then he went to Dewsbury in 2015. Last year he ws a Rochdale player.

Sam Brooks, prop, began his career as a Halifax player in 2014. In 2015 he was signed by Rochdale but moved on to Whitehaven in April. In 2016 he moved to Widnes but also played for Whitehaven on dual reg. In 2017  he played for Bradford on dual reg and then transferred from Widnes to Fev in July. He joined Leigh for this year. He is a Scotland international.

Joe Cator, loose forward, is another who joined Leigh this year. From 2016 to 2018 he was a Hull KR player and in 2018 he played for Coventry (dual reg) and Newcastle (loan).

Luke Douglas, prop, has spent all this season at Leigh on loan from Saint Helens. Before joining Saints in 2017 he had played over 250 games in the NRL for Cronulla and Gold Coast. He is a Scotland international and has also played for the Australia Prime Minister’s XIII.

Leigh’s latest signing in late June has seen Cory Paterson, second row, come out of retirement. After playing for Newcastle Knights and North Queensland in the NRL he joined Hull KR in 2013. In 2014 he returned to the NRL with Wests Tigers and in 2015 joined Salford. He played for Leigh in 2016 and 2017 and Toronto in 2018.

Dual Registration and Loans

Leigh have dual registration agreements with Saint Helens and Oldham.

Nine Saints players have played for them this season: Jack Ashworth (prop), Joe Batchelor (second row), James Bentley (centre/second row), Matty Costello (back), Josh Eaves (hooker), Danny Richardson (halfback), Josh Simm (centre), Aaron Smith (hooker) and Adam Swift (centre).

Nick Gregson is the only Leigh player to have appeared for Oldham on dual reg. and he has subsequently left the club to join Swinton

Leigh currently have Saints prop Luke Douglas on loan. Kevin Brown is on loan from Warrington. Jack Higginson was on loan with Rochdale and Declan O’Donnell is out on loan with Workington.

New Signings

Leigh have signed 8 players since the beginning of June. They are:

Ryan Brierley, fullback or halfback, from Toronto

Mitch Clark, prop, from Castleford

Liam Forsyth, back, from Wigan

Adam Higson, wing, from Toronto

Cory Paterson, second row, from Toronto

Ben Reynolds, halfback, from Wakefield

Junior Sa’u, centre, from Salford

Jordan Thompson, forward, from Hull FC

The Fev connection

There are two players who have played for Fev this year who have previously played for Leigh. Will Dagger played for them on loan from Hull KR at the back end of last season and Ben Reynolds was a Leigh player from 2015 to 2018 and has now re-joined Leigh.

There are five players who have appeared for Leigh this year who played for Fev in 2018 - Martyn Ridyard, Sam Brooks, Mitch Clark, Gareth Hock (now retired) and Aaron Smith who played for Leigh on dual reg from Saints earlier this year.