Centurions start the full-time era
Beaumont confirms a settled and completed Centurions squad
Monday 10 November 2014 is a big day in the calendar for Kingstone Press Championship winners Leigh Centurions.

Paul Rowley’s side achieved a magnificent double in the 2014 season, lifting the League Leaders Shield and then defeating Featherstone Rovers in the Championship Grand Final. They lost only two games all season, one to eventual Tetley’s Challenge Cup winners Leeds Rhinos and enjoyed the most successful season results-wise in the Club’s long history.

To maintain the momentum and challenge for success in 2015 Head Coach Paul Rowley and Derek Beaumont, the Centurions Head of Rugby, have assembled a first-team squad of over 30 players and a strong backroom and support team. The players will start full-time training on Monday in readiness for the start of the Kingstone Press Championship season on 15 February 2015 when Bradford Bulls are the visitors to LSV.

Ahead of the big day Mr Beaumont has issued the following statement:

“Amidst continual speculation surrounding Ryan Brierley and Sam Barlow, most recently documented in the Yorkshire Evening Post and a subsequent statement from Leeds Rhinos CEO Gary Hetherington on the club’s official website (www.therhinos.co.uk/news/24175.php#.VF-PHfmsWHg) I wish to make the following clear.

“I am disappointed at the continual need to dig for stories surrounding Ryan Brierley, who is contracted to us until November 2016. In particular not only is it unsettling for him, it is also unfair on him as a young man. I was disappointed with Gary Hetherington’s comments in his statement, as he has shown total disregard to Ryan's welfare. He has seemingly hung him out to dry in front of his own fans by creating the impression that Ryan wanted to leave Leigh in what appears to be a bid to protect his own club from having approached one of my players.

“The fact of the matter is whether Ryan's agent contacted Leeds or not (something he denies to me) Leeds rang Ryan directly, resulting in me speaking to them and it ending there. Any club should only ever speak to another club’s contracted player once permission is given to them to talk with the player. This protocol was not followed.

“I spoke to Ryan about any interest from Leeds which there wasn't. Ryan has always been honest with me throughout and has made it clear he does not want to leave Leigh and if he did he would have no problem in coming telling me that he did. We have a relationship where he can approach me in that way. He is confident in Paul's vision for him and the progress he has made.

“He also knows that if the time comes where he has progressed to that level and we haven't as a club then we wouldn't hold him back. But I am confident we will all reach the required standard in unison.”

Mr Beaumont added the following in respect of Sam Barlow, who is contracted to the Club until November 2019: “I have had further unsettlement surrounding Sam Barlow over the last few days which is also unwelcome, but I don't wish to go further into that now, as it has been nipped in the bud.
“There are rules ‎surrounding players’ contracts and if they are not adhered to there can be serious consequences. Despite having significant evidence of breaches of these rules on two of my players I am satisfied that my amiable conversation with Gary will be sufficient so as not to have to involve the RFL on the matter.

“However, I reserve the right in the future should this happen again which I am confident it now will not. I addressed the players at the Players’ Meeting last Friday ahead of us starting back tomorrow (Monday) and made it clear that I will not be entering into negotiations for extending contracts until the end of next season. I will not be entertaining any approaches for my players irrespective of who the club is and how much is on offer.

“The majority of our squad are on two-year contracts with a few on one-year contracts with our option on the second. Contracts must be respected and if they can just be dismissed or bought out there is no point in them.

“We are building something special and to do that we need to plan ahead. The security of that planning is by way of contracts. We have a squad about which we are very excited and nobody is going to break that under any circumstances.

“If I was offered one million pounds for Ryan or Sam tomorrow I wouldn't sell them. It's that simple. I have never received a financial offer for either as the amount is irrelevant when you are not prepared to sell.

“Whilst some people think everything has a price. Unfortunately for them my goal of seeing Leigh Centurions achieving Super League status is worth more to me than any sum of money. I hope we are now left to start work tomorrow where we can focus on our single-minded approach to achieving our goals, the first of which is to have a solid pre-season. We are all very excited and looking forward to working in a full-time environment which is something we have worked very hard to achieve.

“Our squad for the 2015 season is now settled and complete and we will announce the final member of the Leigh Centurions squad on or about 1 December 2014.”​

Centurions start the full-time era
Beaumont confirms a settled and completed Centurions squad
Monday 10 November 2014 is a big day in the calendar for Kingstone Press Championship winners Leigh Centurions.

Paul Rowley’s side achieved a magnificent double in the 2014 season, lifting the League Leaders Shield and then defeating Featherstone Rovers in the Championship Grand Final. They lost only two games all season, one to eventual Tetley’s Challenge Cup winners Leeds Rhinos and enjoyed the most successful season results-wise in the Club’s long history.

To maintain the momentum and challenge for success in 2015 Head Coach Paul Rowley and Derek Beaumont, the Centurions Head of Rugby, have assembled a first-team squad of over 30 players and a strong backroom and support team. The players will start full-time training on Monday in readiness for the start of the Kingstone Press Championship season on 15 February 2015 when Bradford Bulls are the visitors to LSV.

Ahead of the big day Mr Beaumont has issued the following statement:

“Amidst continual speculation surrounding Ryan Brierley and Sam Barlow, most recently documented in the Yorkshire Evening Post and a subsequent statement from Leeds Rhinos CEO Gary Hetherington on the club’s official website (www.therhinos.co.uk/news/24175.php#.VF-PHfmsWHg) I wish to make the following clear.

“I am disappointed at the continual need to dig for stories surrounding Ryan Brierley, who is contracted to us until November 2016. In particular not only is it unsettling for him, it is also unfair on him as a young man. I was disappointed with Gary Hetherington’s comments in his statement, as he has shown total disregard to Ryan's welfare. He has seemingly hung him out to dry in front of his own fans by creating the impression that Ryan wanted to leave Leigh in what appears to be a bid to protect his own club from having approached one of my players.

“The fact of the matter is whether Ryan's agent contacted Leeds or not (something he denies to me) Leeds rang Ryan directly, resulting in me speaking to them and it ending there. Any club should only ever speak to another club’s contracted player once permission is given to them to talk with the player. This protocol was not followed.

“I spoke to Ryan about any interest from Leeds which there wasn't. Ryan has always been honest with me throughout and has made it clear he does not want to leave Leigh and if he did he would have no problem in coming telling me that he did. We have a relationship where he can approach me in that way. He is confident in Paul's vision for him and the progress he has made.

“He also knows that if the time comes where he has progressed to that level and we haven't as a club then we wouldn't hold him back. But I am confident we will all reach the required standard in unison.”

Mr Beaumont added the following in respect of Sam Barlow, who is contracted to the Club until November 2019: “I have had further unsettlement surrounding Sam Barlow over the last few days which is also unwelcome, but I don't wish to go further into that now, as it has been nipped in the bud.
“There are rules ‎surrounding players’ contracts and if they are not adhered to there can be serious consequences. Despite having significant evidence of breaches of these rules on two of my players I am satisfied that my amiable conversation with Gary will be sufficient so as not to have to involve the RFL on the matter.

“However, I reserve the right in the future should this happen again which I am confident it now will not. I addressed the players at the Players’ Meeting last Friday ahead of us starting back tomorrow (Monday) and made it clear that I will not be entering into negotiations for extending contracts until the end of next season. I will not be entertaining any approaches for my players irrespective of who the club is and how much is on offer.

“The majority of our squad are on two-year contracts with a few on one-year contracts with our option on the second. Contracts must be respected and if they can just be dismissed or bought out there is no point in them.

“We are building something special and to do that we need to plan ahead. The security of that planning is by way of contracts. We have a squad about which we are very excited and nobody is going to break that under any circumstances.

“If I was offered one million pounds for Ryan or Sam tomorrow I wouldn't sell them. It's that simple. I have never received a financial offer for either as the amount is irrelevant when you are not prepared to sell.

“Whilst some people think everything has a price. Unfortunately for them my goal of seeing Leigh Centurions achieving Super League status is worth more to me than any sum of money. I hope we are now left to start work tomorrow where we can focus on our single-minded approach to achieving our goals, the first of which is to have a solid pre-season. We are all very excited and looking forward to working in a full-time environment which is something we have worked very hard to achieve.

“Our squad for the 2015 season is now settled and complete and we will announce the final member of the Leigh Centurions squad on or about 1 December 2014.”​