Ryan Brierley full of praise for Saints ahead of top vs bottom clash

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Leigh Centurions full-back Ryan Brierley believes that he will come up against the best side in Super League when St Helens travel to the Leigh Sports Village on Friday night.

Saints currently sit top of the league – at the time of writing – with four wins from four having conceded just 22 points so far.

Speaking to Prost before the round five clash, Brierley knows the magnitude of the task ahead.

“I know it’s early in the year, but the table doesn’t lie and going back-to-back as champions in the previous two years certainly backs up that they (St Helens) are the best team.

“When you’ve got Tommy Makinson coming out the back and Regan Grace dancing around causing problems, it’s always going to be a tough test for anyone.

“We can talk all day long about the talent that they’ve got, there’s an array there. We’ve got to understand that, and we certainly respect St Helens, but we’ve got to concentrate on ourselves this week and get going.

“We go into every game trying to win it. If we tried to pick and choose which ones we could win, then it would land us in some very hot water so we’ve never done that. The belief is there that we can go and win the game on Friday night.”

If the Centurions were to pull off a shock result, it would earn them their first points of the season.

Since being narrowly defeated by Wigan Warriors in the opening round, all three of their previous outings have seen John Duffy’s men lose by over 25 points.

For 29-year-old Brierley, Friday’s meeting with the league leaders presents an opportunity to try and stop the rut.

“At the moment our performances aren’t good enough and in any sport, if you perform well then the result usually takes care of itself, so we’ll focus on the performance to start with.

“We’ve been working hard for each other but not reacted well to adversity. We’re going to be challenged with that again on Friday, so we need to work out how to handle that better.

“We’re a very confident bunch, we do believe that the season will turn, and we’ll be going into the game against Saints to win it.”

Although the side have played at home in the Challenge Cup earlier on in the campaign, Friday will be the first time that Leigh have been able to walk out at the LSV in Super League this season.

This is something that Brierley – who has had two spells with the Leythers in his career – is looking forward to.

“Playing at the LSV will definitely be an advantage for us. We train there every day and it’s home to us.

“Just to walk out of the tunnel again will be good and we need every little advantage that we can get at the moment, so we’ll certainly take it.

“We want to make sure that the LSV is somewhere that’s really difficult to come to and that’ll be no different on Friday night.

“We’ll make it really difficult for Saints and want to make ourselves a tough side to beat. If we do get beat, then we want to make sure that Saints earn it.

“It’ll be the last game without the fans in and we can’t wait to be able to see them again. We need the fans, and we know that the sooner they get in, the better for us.”

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