Zak Hardaker surprised fans when he left Leeds Rhinos for the rebranded Leigh Leopards.
As per usual, the newly promoted side are in the conversations about relegation.
However, they are not the favourites after drafting in some real star power in 2023.
The bookies have Wakefield Trinity 2/1 to go down but the Leopards are the second favourites for relegation and are 11th favourites to win the Grand Final.
However, Hardaker has told Sky Sports that he is not interested in talk about relegation:
“The talk of a new club getting promoted is ‘are they going to get relegated again’ and that’s something that’s definitely not on our minds.
“We want to have a good brand of football played this year and we’ve got to be optimistic about the strength of the players we’ve brought in, and added to the strength of the players that were already here.
“We’re looking forwards to a tough hard year, we’ve put in the hard work in pre-season and we’re looking forward to showcasing that on Friday night.
“The talk is always that the club that comes up is probably favourites with the bookies to go straight back down, I’m not sure on the odds this year, but the players that have been recruited here are top level and elite players. We’ve all got one goal and that’s to achieve something this year, it’s not to finish 10th, 11th or 12th.
“We’ve got an ambitious group, an ambitious owner and a coach that’s been there and done that. The backroom staff are really eager to do that as well. Just going from training and the two fixtures that we’ve played, there’s lots to come from this group and we’re excited to get the game going on Friday and see what we can do against a real primed Salford team.”
