Josh Charnley: Don't write us off

Leigh return to Betfred Super League in 2023. After a dominant season in the Betfred Championship, the newly named Leigh Leopards surged into the top flight thanks to a convincing Play-Off Grand Final win against Batley.

Adrian Lam's side will be desperate to buck the overwhelming trend of promoted club's being relegated during their first season back in Super League - and they have assembled the squad to do so.

Even before their promotion was confirmed, Leigh had a host of household names in their side. Josh Charnley - who began the season at Warrington Wolves ? joined the Leopards mid way through the 2022 season during their push for promotion. He made an immediate impact at the Leigh Sports Village and is now set to return to Super League next year.

And Charnley has added motivation to perform well on his return ? he currently sits in third place on the all-time Super League try scoring charts, behind current Hull KR winger Ryan Hall and Leeds Rhinos legend turned Hull KR assistant coach Danny McGuire.

With the Leopards, Charnley has the chance to hunt down Ryan Hall as both players look to surpass Danny McGuire?s record-setting 247 Super League tries.

"I'm very excited [to return to Super League]", Charnley explained.

"I didn't have a good run last year [at Warrington] - I only managed to play a few games so I'm glad to be back in Super League and chasing my try scoring charts."

The Leopards set impeccable standards in the Championship last season. They had a points difference of over 1000 points and lost just once all year. The challenge will be to maintain that impressive form against elevated competition in Super League - and Charnley is confident they can do just that.

"We're building really well. There's only a few that were on international duty who are still away, but the majority of the team are all together and we've been training really well for the past five weeks.

"We're setting high standards for ourselves. We're going to try and stay up. A lot of teams come up and go straight back down but we're trying to stay up - we're going to fight to stay up. I think the way that we're building it's looking very interesting for the team and for the club."

The task at hand won't be easy. But Leigh have assembled a talented and capable squad, giving them every chance of shaking up the competition and being a Super League club beyond the 2023 season.

"Derek and the board have signed really well, we've been training really well and some of the skills that the boys are doing on the training paddock is mad - so we shouldn't be written off. I think teams should be wary of us."