Leigh Leopards player ratings as quartet shine in Catalans Dragons rout

Leigh Leopards’ best-ever start to a Super League season reached new highs on Friday evening, thumping Catalans Dragons 34-6 on home soil.

Live from the Leopards’ Den press box, these are our Leigh ratings…

Bailey Hodgson – 8

The only negative in Hodgson’s game having been shifted to full-back was a wrong play-the-ball in the first half. Barring that, we thought he was excellent. Very good under the high ball, and made some big metres with strong carries.

AJ Towse – 8

Towse’s Leigh debut, and his senior Super League bow, went swimmingly. Again, one notable mistake with a spill close to the end of the first half, but before that, he’d laid the platform for a Jack Hughes try with a barnstorming run which saw him pick the ball up in his own in-goal area. That was a real highlight.

Tesi Niu – 8

Niu stopped Reimis Smith grabbing the opening try with the faintest of tackles early on, and then laid the platform for what was actually the game’s opener at the other end a few minutes later with a monstrous run. Leigh fans will love what they’ve seen from him so far this season.

Umyla Hanley – 9

Hanley’s rise over the last 18 months or so at Leigh has been meteoric, and for the first time this season, he absolutely shone on Friday night. All three of his tries came via terrific finishes, and he stood up tall in defence when required, too. This was his fifth career hat-trick.

Keanan Brand – 9

Brand penned a new three-year contract extension with Leigh earlier this week, and capped off a tremendous week with a great showing at the Leopards’ Den. His HUGE hit on Arthur Romano early doors set the tone, and he got the try his overall performance deserved soon after.

Gareth O’Brien – 8

O’Brien has been great for Leigh for a sustained period now, and his good run of form continued on Friday, with the highlight his offload just a few metres from the Dragons line for Ethan O’Neill’s second half try. The half-back also slotted home five from six with the boot.

Lachlan Lam – 9

We’ve become so accustomed to Lam delivering top performances week in, week out that it’s easy to miss him out when praise is being dished out. He oozed quality again though on Friday evening, recording four assists and causing Catalans problems every time he touched the ball.

Owen Trout – 8

Trout was among Leigh’s best-performing forwards on the night, hammering Catalans at every opportunity he got. A spilled ball late on in the first half aside, we struggle to pick holes in anything he did. The big man was alert to tee up Brand for his first half try following a Dragons error, too.

Edwin Ipape – 9

The king of Leigh. We don’t think we’ll ever tire of waxing lyrical over Ipape, who was utterly dominant again. Whoever he comes up against, that always seems to be the case. He did 70 minutes without a rest, by the way. What a bloke!

Robbie Mulhern – N/A

Mulhern was forced off circa 25 minutes in with what appeared to be a lower leg issue. He didn’t return to the field.

Ethan O’Neill – 7

O’Neill had a quieter night than we’ve become accustomed to in the first few weeks of his time at Leigh, but still managed to get over for a try in the second half. He still didn’t put a foot wrong all night, mind.

Jack Hughes – 7

It was a similar story for Hughes, who scored a first-half try and played his part in a big win, but just didn’t stand out as much as some of his peers. Nothing wrong with that.

Isaac Liu – 8

Liu did close to an hour on the field, and left everything out there, but then returned for the final 10! If Catalans’ carrier wasn’t afraid of running into Trout, they were certainly intimidated by the Samoa and New Zealand international, who hit everything in his path at force. He looks a real coup for the Leopards.

Louis Brogan (Interchange) – 7

Brogan entered the action midway through the second half, and didn’t disappoint as he got his opportunity for the first time this season. Nothing flash, but nothing wrong with what he delivered.

Alec Tuitavake (Interchange) – N/A

After replacing the injured Mulhern, Tuitavake only played circa 20 minutes either side of the break before being forced off with an issue of his own.

Matt Davis (Interchange) – 6

We didn’t really see enough of Davis to warrant any higher mark, but nothing wrong with what he delivered.

Brad Dwyer (Interchange) – 6

A similar story where Dwyer is concerned, though he did notably stop a breakaway by Luke Keary with about 15 minutes remaining.