Brierley feels like a part of the furniture at Leigh

Leigh Centurions full-back Ryan Brierley has expressed how happy he is to be at the club and says that he feels like a part of the furniture at the Leigh Sports Village.

A Scottish international, Brierley is closing in on 150 appearances for the Centurions and is currently in his third spell with the club.

He has featured in all of Leigh’s games so far this campaign and spoke to Prost International prior to their recent defeat against reigning champions St Helens.

“Leigh just feels right for me, we seem to fit very well. I’ve always considered it as a home for me so as long as Leigh want me, I do believe that I can finish my career off here. I can’t see me being anywhere else. I love the club and the relationships I have around it. I appreciate those relationships and they’re ones which I hope can last for a very long time.

“I feel like I can do a job and I’m coming into my prime at home. I’m 29 and I want to be able to replicate the levels that the best are performing at. I know I’ve got a lot of hard work to do to get there but I believe I’m at the right club.

“It’s just around the corner from my house, I feel like a part of the furniture there and it doesn’t feel right me being away from Leigh Centurions. I want to be a part of this team for many more years to come. I’m really happy and I want to make sure that this team is successful playing in Super League, playing at the highest level.”

Brierley re-joined Leigh in October of last year from Hull Kingston Rovers, prior to the Leythers finding out that they would be playing in the top division this season and despite having offers from already established Super League outfits.

That move signalled a permanent return to Leigh for the Prestonian, having left in 2016 when the club failed to gain promotion from the Championship, joining Huddersfield Giants.

A Leigh return was never in doubt for the 29-year-old though, admitting that there was a tinge of disappointment when he saw the side gain promotion in the year following his departure.

“I always wanted to play in Super League with Leigh, and I had turned down some offers to join clubs (in the top division) before I eventually moved on to Huddersfield. I did that because I wanted to be there with Leigh but after the end of the 2015 season, I felt like nobody could touch us and then we finished bottom of the Middle 8’s without winning a game.

“We ended up nowhere near promotion and that hurt me. I started to think that it just wasn’t going to happen. I felt like it was time to move on and that I was running out of time to actually play in Super League as silly as that sounds looking back now.

“That year, Leigh got promoted and I regret not being a part of that side in Super League with Leigh because that was my main aim. I felt like I should have been a part of that team, I had been for the last four or five years before that. To not be a part of those special days when the club won promotion, that hurt me.

“I re-signed for the club when we were still in the Championship last year to be a part of the journey of getting back to Super League and being a part of it this time. It was an itch that I needed to scratch. If I hadn’t played in Super League with Leigh, I wouldn’t have been able to be fully satisfied with my career. It’s something that needed to be done and needed to happen for my own sanity.

“I love the club that much that I want to be playing at the top level for it and with it, being part of a team that keeps them there as well if possible. Leigh just feels right for me.”

Having re-joined Leigh in October, Brierley is yet to come face-to-face with the club’s fans again in a match capacity due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. This will come for the first time since his return on 17 May if things go ahead as planned, when the Centurions are scheduled to face off against near neighbours Wigan Warriors at the LSV.

He is looking forward to this and believes that the re-introduction of fans – especially at home – may help to change the side’s fortunes. Leigh currently sit joint bottom of the Super League table after five games without a point to their name.

“It’s been mad not having the fans around in person for the last year. A town like Leigh and a team like Leigh are a team that plays on emotion. Luckily, I’ve witnessed it first-hand before, we need that North Stand at the LSV dragging us over the line come the end of a half.

“I think that if we’d had that stand behind us in a couple of the recent games, the results might have been a little bit different so we can’t wait for it to happen where the fans can return.”

John Duffy’s Leythers now have a break in the fixture lists to accommodate for other sides playing in the Challenge Cup. Their next encounter will be the aforementioned tussle with Wigan later this month.

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