Magic Preview: Don't stop believing

Leopards' flying start no surprise to influential skipper

Leigh's eye-catching start to the 2023 Betfred Super League campaign has shocked plenty of observers - but not the Leopards themselves.

That much is clear from speaking to captain John Asiata, the tough and skilful forward who has been a key figure in the side's stirring season to date.

Following their off-season rebrand, the Leopards currently look much more like play-off contenders than the relegation battlers some predicted, and Asiata insists that was always the aim from within the club.

"Coming into Super League from the Championship is never an easy task and every game is tough," explains Asiata, who joined the club with an impressive pedigree having won an NRL Grand Final with Johnathan Thurston's North Queensland Cowboys.

"As a team we set a goal of where we wanted to be at the end of the season and then broke down our year into a set of blocks.

"There were some targets to meet and at the moment we're on target, though we still do understand that we're far from our best.

"We know that we're heading in the right direction and we're very proud of how we've been going.

"The boys have really bought into what Lammy (coach Adrian Lam) wanted to achieve and have believed in each other."

That belief stood firm despite scepticism from elsewhere.

"There will always be outside noise and people doubting us, thinking that it will be the same old teams coming up from the Championship and going straight back down," Asiata continues.

"But it's the group itself that writes the script of our journey, and if anything those people fuelled the fire and motivated us more to prove people wrong.

"That's what we're aiming to do.

"I was looking at it last year and with the recruitment that we did then and before the start of the season, I thought we'd be good enough to get into the top six as long as we believed in the group.

"Players have come in and bought into our plan, and it's credit to the staff for the recruitment that was done, and credit to those boys that they've been willing to buy into the team."

Asiata featured in the NRL's Magic Weekend in Brisbane and is now relishing the opportunity to step out onto the St James' Park pitch.

He also insists that the Leopards won't underrate their opponents Wakefield Trinity, who have found themselves entrenched in the relegation battle that Leigh appear to have completely avoided.

"They're a team that's not been far off winning a lot of games," Asiata adds.

"We can't underestimate Wakefield, they've got a lot of talent around the park and some players that can do some magic stuff.

"For us, every game we need to make sure we turn up with the right attitude and on song to perform.

"They've got a lot to play for - but so have we."

PLAYER IN FORM - JOSH CHARNLEY

If any player has summed up Leigh Leopards' return to Super League, it's experienced winger Charnley.

The former Wigan and Warrington man has burst back onto the top flight scene with a series of dynamic displays on the wing.

Charnley has produced a highlights reel of flying finishes in the corner to go alongside a huge work-rate from inside his own half, prompting his coach Adrian Lam to call for an England return.

ONE TO WATCH - EDWIN IPAPE 

There were a few eyebrows raised when competition sponsor Betfred listed Ipape as favourite for the 2023 Steve Prescott Man of Steel, despite him never having played at this level before.

But the Papua New Guinean hooker has backed that judgement with a host of typically all-action performances in Leigh's impressive start to the campaign.

Explosive and unpredictable out of dummy half, he is rapidly becoming one of the most exciting players in the competition - having won the Ray French Award as Player of the Match in last summer's AB Sundecks 1895 Cup Final at Tottenham.