Leigh Leopards have confirmed a second NRL signing in three days with the club rebuilding after so many key departures.
Among those to leave the club were four players destined for Hull FC; Ed Chamberlain (moved mid-season), Oliver Holmes, Zak Hardaker and captain John Asiata.
They also saw three other quota players depart with Kai O’Donnell (North Queensland Cowboys), Tom Amone (Canterbury Bulldogs) and Ricky Leutele (off-contract) all departing the Leigh Sports Village.
That opened up four overseas quota spots and the club have set about filling them quickly following club owner Derek Beaumont’s promise that they had made “three NRL signings”.
The first of those came earlier in the week as they announced the arrival of forward Isaac Liu with the 33-year-old penning a two-year deal after departing Gold Coast Titans.
Now, they’ve added more firepower to their pack with Manly Sea Eagles’ Ben Condon also inking a two-year deal, as confirmed by Leigh Leopards.
Leigh Leopards confirm second NRL signing
Liu and Condon will go a long way to replacing the departing trio of Amone, O’Donnell and Asiata with the Leopards also sure to dip into the domestic market with Leigh star Josh Charnley recently revealing that ‘Derek has bought big’.
They’ve certainly signed big with the six foot five inches tall Condon adding some big firepower to the Leigh pack with the club stating that he brings “height, weight, aggression and considerable experience to the Leopards’ pack”.
A statement confirmed his arrival, reading: “Leigh Leopards are delighted to announce the signing of Ben Condon on a two-year contract.
“Queensland born, the 24-year-old back-row or prop forward has played for both North Queensland Cowboys and Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in the NRL competition.”
On the signing, Leigh’s Head of Rugby, Chris Chester, said: “Ben is a big, athletic back rower who can also play as a middle.
“We jumped at the opportunity to sign him as he is a player we have had our eye on for a number of months now.
“Ben fits the mould of what we look for in back rowers and middles. He’s a big body with good leg speed and good defence, and he’s an all-round good guy as well.
“He should fit in well into our systems we have in place here and he comes with a good pedigree. I’m glad we have got him signed up at the Leopards for the next two years.”
He will have huge shoes to fill but it seems that Condon checks off their Kai O’Donnell replacement with Liu likely to emulate Asiata meaning that they’re in need of an enforcer such as Amone.
