Josh Charnley insists winless Leigh have what it takes to ride out their injury crisis.
The Challenge Cup holders have lost both games so far ahead of Friday’s visit from Leeds. And they are now without crocked captain John Asiata and ex-Rhinos winger Tom Briscoe after they joined Dream Team hooker Edwin Ipape on the sidelines. Former England winger Charnley, 32, conceded: “John is a massive part of our spine, the way that we play and a lot of ball goes through him.
"And Brisc is my fellow wing partner who gets through a lot of hard work and big yardage carries for us. It is a big blow for us. We’ve got Edwin as well so that’s three players with experience and X Factor about them who we’re missing. But we’re not dwelling on it.
"The club’s recruited well by bringing in Brad Dwyer. He brings a lot of energy to the team and the way we play. We can't sulk about it and think about what ifs but the club have recruited for us. We were lucky last year. We only picked up a few injuries which weren’t long-term. But we have a talented squad.”
After narrow defeats against Huddersfield and St Helens, Leigh hope to get off the mark against a Leeds side seeking a third win from four outings so far. Charnley, who helped Leopards to Wembley glory and the play-offs last year after promotion, admitted: “We’ve not started how we’d want.
“A lot of teams get that. They’ll have peaks and troughs throughout the year but ours has started right at the beginning. We’ll come to terms with it all and will be a different team the next couple of weeks.
“Matt Moylan and Lachlan Lam haven’t really trained together much in pre-season. Once they connect, they are both really skilful and watching them glide around the training paddock, it’s exciting for the club and for Super League.”
The ex-Wigan and Warrington star is celebrating his testimonial this year - “it’s crazy how quick it [career] has gone” - with a series of events. But uppermost in his thoughts is bringing Leeds to their knees, a side who have invested heavily in Brodie Croft, Andy Ackers and co for 2024.
Charnley said: "They needed it. They needed a change from last year. They have a whole new spine aside from Cam Smith with a new six, seven, nine and one. They are playing well. You can see they are confident, they’re playing some expansive rugby, are kicking the ball on play two across field and giving their wingers and centres a lot of ball. It’s good to see.
“It’ll be a big challenge for us them coming to LSV but on the flip side we want to right our wrongs - and Leeds are probably going to take on a different side to the one they’ve reviewed.”