Centurions champing at the bit for Middle 8s
Leigh centre Tom Armstrong says the Centurions are ready and confident ahead of the start of the Middle 8s.
This season Leigh, despite a disrupted start after the shock resignation of Paul Rowley 10 days before the start of the season, as well as the departures of halves Ryan Brierley and Rangi Chase, have won a third consecutive Championship Leaders Shield.
Armstrong praised the club for getting behind new head coach Neil Jukes.
He told Love Rugby League: “It obviously started a little disjointed with Paul leaving and Neil Jukes stepping up but everyone’s got behind Neil and the teams gone from strength to strength.
“I think we have 20 wins on the bounce now, all the nerves at the start of the season are long gone and were ready for the Middle 8s”
After a disappointing Middle 8s campaign in 2015, Armstrong believes the Centurions know what went wrong and how it can be fixed.
“I think they were a few changes later on in the season that maybe caused a bigger impact than what it was initially thought and we didn’t complete high enough,” he adkmitted.
“We didn’t respect the ball well enough and got punished against better teams when we could away with it at a Championship level, I think we just found out when you don’t respect the ball you can get punished by those teams.
“I think a couple of times we had the game won and both Wakefield and Hull KR came back and ended up pipping us right at the end and we ended up playing four Super League teams on the bounce and I think that really demoralised the lads.
“Because we had two wins in the bag and they were snatched from us and I think that mentally did damage our chances.”
Armstrong will be playing in Super League next year after securing a move to Widnes.
Leigh travel to Sheffield to take on the Eagles on tonight and the centre is looking forward to facing his old club. He spent the 2013 season with the South Yorkshire club.
“I think it’s the same for everyone but you always want to step up again, just to get to that extra level,” Armstrong said.
“You always want to prove yourself but there’s always something extra against an old club because you know them and to say either you were wrong to let me go or I made the right decision to move on and better myself.”