Joey Leilua set to make Featherstone Rovers debut against Leigh Centurions

Featherstone Rovers’ new blockbuster signing Joey Leilua is set to make his debut against Leigh Centurions in what is a highly-anticipated Championship clash tomorrow night.

Leilua missed Rovers’ opening game against the York City Knights, but Featherstone fans will finally be able to get their first view of the former Canberra Raiders and Wests Tigers powerhouse centre.

Featherstone tweeted: “This man is line to make his Featherstone Rovers debut tomorrow night, be there to give him a warm welcome to the Millennium Stadium as the team run out for the first home game of the season!”

😆 𝙊𝙃 𝙅𝙊𝙀𝙔 𝙇𝙀𝙄𝙇𝙐𝘼

This man is line to make his Featherstone Rovers debut tomorrow night, be there to give him a warm welcome to the Millennium Stadium as the team run out for the first home game of the season!

🎟 https://t.co/tqTLaH5RJq#UTR | #BlueWall pic.twitter.com/nALiRM1FE3

— Featherstone Rovers (@FevRoversRLFC) February 6, 2022

He is set to battle against the likes of Josh Hardcastle and Craig Hall for a spot in the centres as Rovers attempt to earn promotion for the first time in the Super League era.

And, the two are set to go head-to-head on Monday night, live on Premier Sports, for what many have dubbed already as a huge game.

However, for Leigh owner Derek Beaumont, there is no pressure on his side given their smaller squad.

“They’ve already got a 28-man squad and we’ve got a 21-man squad so we can see what they’ve got,” Beaumont told Serious About Rugby League.

“We’ve got places and money left to add to our squad and whilst people are making a lot out of this game on Monday, I honestly don’t get the hype around it.

“Nothing will get decided in round two, so there’s no pressure on Adrian Lam or any of my lads.

“I wouldn’t read anything into if we went to Fev and got beat, it’s early in the season, we’ve got a new team with only five players from last year.

“We’ve had one friendly and one league game so we are still gelling and a coach is instilling his ways.

“We still have to play Fev in the Summer Bash and at the Leigh Sports Village again, we lose nothing if we lose on Monday.”

Despite Beaumont stating that there is little pressure on his side, he believes the opposite is true of Brian McDermott’s men.

“In Featherstone’s point of view there’s a lot of pressure on them for that day.

“If they do lose that then it is a different story – if they can’t beat us at round two at home on a heavier pitch – their pitch – then they aren’t going to be fancying it later in the year at Headingley or LSV when we are all together and more improved.

“I believe our lads are capable of going there and winning.”