Leigh Leopards star Edwin Ipape has his say on where he would be without move to then Leigh Centurions

Yesterday, Leigh made a number of major announcements.

They started with a rebrand as the Leopards which was accompanied by a new badge and a new kit.

That was followed by a whole host of signings many of whom are big names like Zak Hardaker, Ricky Leutele, Tom Briscoe, Oliver Holmes and Jack Hughes.

However, these should not distract from the business Leigh, as the Centurions, did so that the Leopards can leap into Super League.

Part of this came with some sizeable signings like Blake Ferguson, Josh Charnley and Lachlan Lam but there were also chances taken on players namely Edwin Ipape.

An unknown hooker who joined the then Centurions for 2022 and was an instant hit.

He was the Ray French Award winner as Man of the Match as Leigh beat Featherstone at the Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium in the 1895 Cup Final and was their danger man all season as they lost one league game all season, finished top and earned promotion with a Grand Final win over Batley.

He was also crowned Championship Player of the Year beating out teammate John Asiata.

All of this came whilst starting most games off the bench which made it all even more impressive.

But where would Ipape be without his move to the then Leigh Centurions.

Well, this week Ipape has addressed that saying he simply doesn’t know but thanks the club for enabling him show his talents.

When talking about the opportunities he’s had at Leigh, Ipape said: “I’d love to play at the top level and I finally get the chance to play in the Super League.

“Leigh have given me the opportunity to expose my talent, it’s been a blessing to be honest. Adrian Lam, Chris Chester and Derek Beaumont did a tremendous job to bring me over here.

“When you’re playing well week in, week out your confidence goes up and hopefully I can keep it up.”

When the question of where he would be without Leigh was asked, he simply said: “I can’t answer that because I don’t know.”

It stands to reason that the 23-year-old would have still been relatively unheard of but now he’s stirring up talk in Australia after a Man of the Match display for Papua New Guinea against Tonga.