Leigh Leopards have confirmed that former Huddersfield Giants star Joe Wardle will be leaving the club. Wardle is the older brother to Wigan Warriors star Jake Wardle and has had an excellent career and has done so much for the Leopards since joining at the end of 2021.
Leigh made the following statement:
“Leigh Leopards can confirm Joe Wardle will be leaving the club at the end of the season. Joe played a huge part in our promotion season and everyone at The Leopards wishes Joe well.”
It comes after Leigh showed they can compete with St Helens on Friday.
It was a physical affair from minute one given the angst between the two clubs going into the game tonight and that created some of the best and most ferocious tackles you will see all season.
Saints heaped the pressure on the Leopards early but after earning a penalty the Leopards went down field and created a superb try with a lovely set pattern move.
They might not have had John Asiata to organise their attack, their spine still linked brilliantly with ben Reynolds popping up on the left edge to feed a sweeping move that was completed by Oliver Gildart, his first of the season. That gave Leigh a 6-0 lead but that was soon wiped out.
The Champions struck from deep with Tommy Makinson freed up down the wing and then the ball was kept alive until it was returned to the winger to score and make it 6-all.
The Saints perhaps should have notched another try before the halftime hooter with the pressure they built but that was repelled brilliantly by Leigh.
Then it was Saints making errors at the start of the second half and Leigh had some chances with Zak Hardaker coming close but being denied by some superb cover defence.
However, Leigh would lament those missed chances when a high kick was dropped by Gareth O’Brien and James Roby pounced scooping up the ball and feeding Makinson for a second.
The Saints would back that up when a nice set play allowed Jonny Lomax just enough space to ease through and make it 16-6.
That looked like it would settle matters but Leigh fired a warning shot with a break down the left before a break from Edwin Ipape and an offload let to a try from Rob Mulhern to make it 16-12.
In the dying stages we saw the teams trade no tries with the Saints denied a penalty try before a Tom Briscoe try was denied for a knock on.
But eventually Joe Batchelor was on hand to win the game.
