Leigh Centurions play their 1st ever SL game at Hilton Park (aka The Coliseum) versus the Huddersfield Giants this saturday (12th Feb) evening. Club starlet Neil Turley gives this interview regarding this momentous occassion for the Leythers.
Leigh star Neil Turley insists his side are more than capable of proving the doubters wrong and becoming a competitive force in this year's Engage Super League.
The Centurions have been written off by almost everyone in the game before a ball has even been kicked as they attempt to bridge the gap between the National League and the Super League.
But the Wigan-born full-back believes this will only act as motivation for him and his team-mates.
"We take a lot of motivation from being written off," Turley said. "We think that we are going to stay up.
"The bookies have made us odds-on favourites to go down, and the press and the media have their opinions as well, but that is no problem. We get motivated from that sort of stuff."
First up for the Centurions this weekend are the Huddersfield Giants, who have proved over the past couple of years that it is possible for a side to gain promotion and compete alongside the big boys in the top flight.
Turley remains convinced his side have got what it takes to follow in their footsteps and become a successful club.
He said: "I think we can take heart from what Huddersfield have done and Salford as well - hopefully we can do what they have done over the last couple of years and stay up.
"There is a good feeling in the camp at the moment and we really think we can beat Huddersfield. We have knuckled down in training for a couple of months now and we are ready for Super League.
"It is a fantastic feeling to be here in Super League at last, and hopefully we can stay up this year and see what happens from there."
Leigh coach Darren Abram has been busy in the close season strengthening his squad for the big time. It has seen 13 new players arrive at the club.
Turley has no doubts they can gel quickly into a strong unit and hit the ground running - starting on Saturday at the Coliseum.
"We have recruited quite well this year," he added. "We have got a lot of Aussies over and we have got some Super League experience in Steve McCurrie and Darren Fleary, so I think we will go well.
"We knitted as a team the first time we met each other and obviously we have got to knit early on this Saturday, but if we can get a couple of wins from the first few matches we can kick on from there in terms of confidence.
"There is definitely a real belief we can stay up - if there wasn't a belief, I don't think there would be any point going out on the park."
