LEIGH Centurions have signed former Salford, Warrington Wolves and Hull KR backrower Tyrone McCarthy for the 2021 Betfred Super League season. McCarthy, who played for Leigh on loan from Warrington Wolves 18 times in 2010, has a wealth of top flight experience. The packman, who was most recently with Salford Red Devils, has been a key player for the Ireland international team, playing 19 times and scoring four tries since his first appearance in 2009. Leigh Centurions Head Coach John Duffy played alongside McCarthy in 2010 and he said he always thought McCarthy was destined for great things. Duffy said: “As a young player coming through, Tyrone always stood out as someone who was likely to play a lot of games at the top level and so it proved.
Check out these images involving the likes of Super Bennie Westwood and Wolfie. You can find plenty more of our features in this series by searching for Bunch of Fives . Other topics covered include spectacular Wire moments, fights in Wire matches, great try celebrations, fans and players without their shirts on. Bunch of five: 1. This is not a tackling technique David Solomona was accustomed to, but nothing else could stop him so this was as good an attempt as any. Pictures: Mike Boden 2. 3. Broadcasting technicians setting up a camera on the rugby posts for a Wire cup match at Hull KR
THE first match to appear in our exclusive new series comes from Warrington Wolves finest season. Alex Murphy s Wire team filled the trophy cabinet in the 1973/74 season, and the action above is from the first half of the final league game of the campaign in the build-up to the first Challenge Cup Final triumph for 19 years and the Club Championship success. On April 15, 1974, The Wire defeated Leigh 27-16 at Wilderspool Stadium in what was their 10th match in 30 days - the congestion resulting from their outstanding cup runs. Legendary stand-off Murphy picked himself for the first time in four months, and the wily old fox can be seen in the footage a week before his 35th birthday pulling all the tricks from up his sleeve as orchestrator-in-chief against his former club.
Father Christmas SAINTS can t have had many better belated Christmas presents than their delivery on January 1, 1998. Signed from Warrington for £375,000 aged 20, Paul Sculthorpe would go on to win every trophy with Saints, skipper club and country and win back-to-back Steve Prescott Man of Steel Awards. It was a crucial signing for Saints, who were at a bit of crossroads after the early two years of success in the summer era. And it equipped them with another real leader in the squad to attack the new millennium. As a player, Sculthorpe had the lot - tough as teak running the ball and tackling, he was also a brilliant reader of the game with the skills to go with it.
Two Leigh Centurions players have agreed full-time contracts with the Club following their promotion to the Betfred Super League. Centre Iain Thornley and forward Tom Spencer had previously combined playing for Leigh with their respective careers away from rugby league. But now the pair will go full-time with Leigh Centurions much to the delight of Head Coach John Duffy. Duffy said: “Iain and Tom are two players who have been fantastic for me and I am really pleased they are going full-time. It speaks volumes about them that they are willing to take this opportunity and give their all for the Leigh Centurions in 2021. I am very pleased they have both been able to secure full-time deals because they are two players who have been on the same journey as me since I came to the Club.”