Leigh Centurions hooker Liam Hood delighted to get another shot at Super League

They were the club celebrating yesterday after earning the right to replace Toronto Wolfpack in the elite competition in 2021.

Players and staff met at Leigh Sports Village stadium to watch the news be announced live on Sky Sports by Lord Jonathan Caine, who had chaired a seven-strong panel to decide which Championship club should be elevated after the financially-troubled Canadian side’s expulsion.

Lord Caine praised the strength of all six bids but said the panel’s decision that Leigh were best placed ahead of Bradford Bulls, Featherstone Rovers, Toulouse Olympique, London Broncos and York City Knights was “unanimous.”

Clearly, there was disappointment among all of their rivals, who each had their own reasons for believing they merited the coveted spot.

However, Leigh – relegated in their only other ventures into Super League in 2005 and 2017 – are now out to prove they are worthy of the distinction.

Shortly after the news broke, Bradford-born Hood told The Yorkshire Post: “I am just buzzing.

“It is amazing to know we’re in Super League.

“Ask any player, you want to play at the top level and to get that chance again, I’ll be honest, when we got relegated in 2017, the way things were going in 2018, it wasn’t the best season for us...

“In 2019 we stepped back a bit so to get that chance to play again in Super League – especially with Leigh – I’m just over the moon.”

The Scotland international, 28, started out at Leeds Rhinos but made only five appearances before being released and joining part-time neighbours Hunslet.

He got another chance in the top-flight with Salford Red Devils but that lasted just one campaign before he dropped down to the Championship again with Leigh in 2016.

He featured in that Super League season but when Leigh owner Derek Beaumont encountered financial problems after a failed promotion push in 2018, Hood moved to Widnes Vikings.

Hood, who returned to Leigh last year, conceded: “When I was at Leeds, I did take a step down and went to Hunslet.

“To be fair, I never thought I’d get back to Super League.

“I thought I’d just stay in part-time rugby, get a little job and work as well.

“So I’m absolutely buzzing to be given the chance to go again.

“This time around, we feel really comfortable in the sense that we have a really strong squad.

“We have a lot of Super League experience there with the likes of Benny Flower, Jamie Ellis and people like that signing up.

“And the lads who have played at Leigh this year, we’re striving to play in the Super League.

“We’re going to go up and give it everything. We won’t be one that goes up and uses excuses such ‘we didn’t get as much money as anyone else, we only just found out in December that we were coming up, we haven’t had long enough to train...’

“We’re going to have a go when we’re up there and our aim will be to stay up this time now we are there.”

Admittedly, as the promoted club, Leigh will only receive £1m funds from Super League’s broadcast funds, opposed to their 11 rivals who will each receive around £1.8m.

However, having already made a raft of significant signings, particularly from Toronto and Hull KR as well as Wales prop Flower from Wigan Warriors, it is easy to see why the panel may have felt they already had a solid foundation to build on.

Given their proximity to Wigan, St Helens and Warrington, Leigh’s inclusion obviously does little in terms of expanding the sport.

Yet they may be seen as the safest choice for a year when Covid could still cause issues.

For those who feel Leigh are a “dull” selection - there was big calls for a newcome like Toulouse or York - Hood insisted: “We’ll thrive on that.

“Every application I’m sure was a good one. Looking at all six clubs, you could put any of those up and they all have strong squads. The fact we have got it makes us want to work for it even more.

“We know we’ve got a point to prove; now we’ve got a chance we want to make the most of it.”

Leigh lost in the Million Pound Game to Catalans Dragons in 2017 and Hood, who played in that fixture, argued: “If you’d have had this system last time we wouldn’t have even been relegated.

“If it was just one-up, one-down we’d have stayed up; we didn’t finish bottom. We just ended up in the bottom-four.

“We’ve got a different team and a different coach this time and things will be a lot different.

We’ll take it week to week. We know we can’t afford to have a day off. There’s world-class players in Super League and we know the standard will go up massively.

“Every gameday we all have to be on at 100 per cent. We can’t have an off-day. But we can’t wait for that - and to be a part of it.”

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