Leigh Leopards coach makes decision on new recruit with star man injured

New recruit Bailey Hodgson will have to wait for his Leigh Leopards debut after missing out on selection for  Thursday night’s game against former club Castleford. Elsewhere, star man Matt Moylan misses out against the Tigers with a rib cartilage issue.

After three-and-a-half years Down Under, Tigers academy product Hodgson joined Leigh at the back end of last week, penning a deal which runs until the end of the 2026 season.

He only touched down and began training with the Leopards, who face three games in the next 10 days, at the start of this week.

And in Wednesday’s pre-match press conference looking ahead to their trip to The Jungle, Leopards boss Lam admitted that the 21-year-old may have to bide his time for an opportunity, just as mid-season signing Darnell McIntosh had to.

That has proven to be the case, with Hodgson not in Lam’s 18-man matchday squad for Thursday night’s game. The Hull-born young gun is however in attendance at the Round 20 clash, and will take part in the warm-up alongside his new team-mates.

Hodgson’s only previous Super League appearance, back in 2020, came as a Cas player prior to his departure for Australia.

Leigh Leopards coach makes decision on new recruit with star man injured

In that pre-match press conference, Leigh boss Lam also revealed that Australian back Matt Moylan was a ’50/50 doubt’ for the clash with Cas.

He picked up a rib cartilage issue during last Friday night’s victory against St Helens, and misses out against the Tigers.

Accordingly, with Gareth O’Brien also unavailable due to a failed HIA, Zak Hardaker returns to slot into the vacant #1 role with Jack Hughes thrust into the halves, a position he’s played just once before in his career – back in 2019 for Warrington Wolves.

The Wire were beaten 22-6 at Salford Red Devils that evening.

The full team news for Leigh’s clash with Castleford can be seen below…

Castleford: Hoy, Rooney, Hall, Mellor, Senior, Milnes, Miller, Mustapha, Lawler, Westerman, El-Zakhem, Johnson, Hill

Bench: Watts, Namo, Robb, Hindmarsh

18th man: Windley

Leigh: Hardaker, McIntosh, Hanley, Leutele, Charnley, Hughes, Lam, Trout, Ipape, Mulhern, O’Donnell, Halton, Asiata

Bench: Norman, Dwyer, Pene, Brogan

18th man: Nisbet