Ryan Brierley to join boyhood club Salford

Drew Darbyshire

Salford have signed full-back Ryan Brierley from Leigh on a two-year deal from next season.

The 29-year-old has scored 193 tries in 224 career appearances for Huddersfield, Toronto, Hull KR and Leigh.

Brierley grew up supporting Salford and will get to play for his boyhood club until the end of 2023.

The Scotland international posted an emotional goodbye to Leigh, thanking the fans for the support over the seven seasons he was at the club.

He posted: “In my head I wanted to finish my career off at Leigh, I felt I was playing the best rugby of my career and it pains me to leave a club I love and it was really hard to tell Derek (Beaumont) I was leaving.

“He gave me the chance to return when a minority of fans were against it, which I will always be grateful for and he did offer me more financially to stay but ultimately, I need to be playing Super League whilst I feel I’m playing my best rugby.

“I want to thank Derek and the board of directors, the coaching staff of Micky (Higham), Jay (Duffy) and head coach Kurt Haggerty who has been brilliant with me and I know he will go on to have an awesome coaching career and he deserves it.

“To the fans that supported me, I can’t use any words to do you justice. I saw every message, so thank you and I hope you know it’s appreciated by me and my family. You are the heartbeat of that club and I couldn’t be more grateful for how you’ve treated me and I hope my performances reflected my appreciation towards you. That walk to the North Stand last Sunday was difficult for me as I’m going to miss it massively, but I wish the club always the best and hope I can get down to support the club whenever possible.”

Brierley has won seven caps for Scotland and represented his heritage at the 2017 World Cup.

Super League Leigh Centurions