Leigh Centurions are set to announce the departure of one of their overseas stars.
In preparation for Super League – if of course Adrian Lam’s side does make it – the Lancashire club need to cut their overseas quota down from 13 to just seven.
And, one of those casualties is to be former Castleford Tigers and Featherstone Rovers winger Jy Hitchcox.
Born on the Gold Coast, Hitchcox played for the Australian Schoolboys u18s and was recruited by the Gold Coast Titans. He also spent time with Melbourne Storm and had a brief spell in rugby union before Wests Tigers offered him a breakthrough opportunity in the NRL during the 2014 season.
Electing to then advance his career in the UK, Hitchcox impressed playing for Featherstone Rovers in 2015, earning a Super League contract with Castleford Tigers the following year.
Hitchcox played in the Tigers’ Super League Grand Final defeat at the hands of Leeds Rhinos in 2017 and scored 21 tries in 26 Super League games for the club, but impressed the Castleford faithful so much that they were sad to see him go on loan to the Bradford Bulls.
He later made the permanent move to Bradford Bulls before moving to France to take up a deal with Toulouse Olympique, where he continued his impressive try-scoring to games ratio.
The flying winger helped the French side reach Super League following a Grand Final win over former side Featherstone.
After spending two years in France, Hitchcox explained he was on the look-out for a return to England and found Leigh Centurions the perfect fit for him, but the spending power of Leigh in 2022 has meant that the likes of Blake Ferguson, Krisnan Inu and Josh Charnley have all found themselves in front of Hitchcox in terms of a wing spot.
It remains to be seen where the winger will be heading, but he will be a great addition to any squad.
