Leigh Centurions • 82/3 to 84/5 seasons
1) 82/3 So it happened again - Alex Murphy left to join a local big brother team in Wigan with Pete Smethurst taking over. A mixed start to the season saw a daw at home to Saints followed my an agonising 10-9 defeat at Wigan followed by a win at Widnes by the same score, before a shock home defeat to Carlisle brought a dampener to the season. This was followed by a thumping 36-7 loss at Hull KR in the JPT. A first round defeat at a Salford in the Challenge Cup increased the gloom, but a 12-5 win over Wigan at H.P. In front of a season high 9,376 was a highlight, while in an extraordinary last match of the season, Leeds were thrashed 51-2 (Woods 9 goals and a try). Nevertheless, the loss of Murphy resulted in a nose dive from 1st to 10th, winning 13 , losing 14 with an unusual 3 draws. Due to injuries Woods only played 27 matches with 48 goals and 12 tries with top try scorer Steve Tomlinson kicked 63 goals in Woody’s absence.
2) 83/4 Tommy Bishop came in as the new coach, and after a start of 4 wins out of 5 (this included a superb 26-12 win at Wigan without Woods and a magnificent 38-6 at bogey ground the Willows with Woods 9 goals and a try) was followed by 5 successive losses, before 8 wins out of 10, which was started by the completion of a double over Wigan 24-18 with Woody kicking 6 goals and a try. It also included a run to the John Player semi final against Leeds at a freezing Huddersfield. After a brave display Leigh went down 18-11, with man of the match, one of my favourite players at the time, Jeff Clarke, ahead banded New Zealander who always gave 100%. Then in January came one of those extraordinary matches at Oldham, that have happened from time to time. With Leigh comfortably leading 26-12, after 56 minutes the appropriately named John Mean suddenly walked off the pitch and abandoned the match after a series of skirmishes at the scrums. Needless to say we lost the replayed match!! This seemed to affect the team, who promptly lost the next 5 matches, before ending the season with a superb 44-20 win over the Wire (Woody 6 goals and 2 tries) and finishing 11th, 14 wins, 16 losses. But just before the end a rearranged match at Leeds saw one of John Woods’s greatest performances scoring all Leigh’s points in a 24-18 win (6 goals and a hat trick!!).Woody finished with 123 goals and an amazing 27 tries, with Dessy on 19 and Donlan 16.
84/5 This was not enough to save Bishop’s coaching job, and in desperation the task was given to star player and captain John Woods. Now star players do not necessarily make good coaches, and what followed was disastrous. A mixed start, saw a run to the Lancs. Cup semi-final and a brilliant win over Wigan at H.P. in front if 10,062 by 24-10. However a thumping 31-10 loss at Saints in that semi final,was followed by 11 losses from 13 matches including heavy defeats at Cas 32-0, Wigan 37-16, Leeds 38-4 and Saints again 56-16. A catastrophic loss at home to Hunslet 27-28 topped off a miserable season, and little did we know that 21 April was to be John Woods ‘slash gamefor Leigh as he kicked 5 goals in a unexpected win over Saints
This had been a season decimated with injuries and a young inexperienced player coach. The team were relegated in 14 tholace with just 8 wins in 30 matches. woody made just 26 appearances with64goala and 11 tries. In the summer he was transferred to Bradford, leaving heartbroken fans lamenting the loss of Leigh’s greatest player. However Alex was back for his 3rd stint, but this time in the 2nd division. Could the old Murphy magic work again?
Statistics: Posted by CHEADLE LEYTHER — Fri Jan 04, 2019 7:45 pm