MICKY Higham says it’s “great to be back” after marking his return to Leigh with a try in a 31-12 victory over Featherstone Rovers in Sunday’s Summer Bash.

The 34-year-old hooker agreed a £50,000 transfer from Warrington Wolves last Wednesday, rejoining the club where he kicked off his career more than 15 years ago.

Higham left the Centurians for St Helens in 2000 and went on to make almost 400 appearances in the Super League for the Saints, his hometown club Wigan and Wolves.

"It's great to be back. I started at Leigh and I wanted to finish here,” he said after making his second debut for the club in front of more than 7,000 at Blackpool FC’s Bloomfield Road stadium.

"It's all come a little bit sooner than expected but once I knew that they were interested then my heart was set on the move and thankfully it all went through.

"I got the chance to play and really enjoyed it.

"The lads have welcomed me with open arms and they all get on. It's a close knit bunch."

Coach Paul Rowley lifted the lid on the trigger for the shock move after confirming that fellow hooker Sean Penkywicz faces a lengthy lay-off with a knee injury.

"Penky has now gone under the knife,” he said.

“There was some uncertainty about his knee injury and it's not a good one.

"It's a long term thing. It was important that we covered our bases in a position that's crucial to any team.

"We were looking and identifying players and that one moved quickly."

Rowley now hopes Higham and team-mate Bob Beswick will share responsibilities in the role, using their combined experience to help maintain Leigh’s march to a second straight Grand Final and possible promotion to the Super League.

"We've got two hookers that can do long minutes, the hardest bit for me is keeping them both happy," added the Centurions coach.

"They both appreciate each other and if we can compress all that quality into a shorter spell Mickey and Bob are going to be like Penky and Bob were – they are going to prove the difference on many occasions."

The ploy worked on Sunday as Higham rose above some questionable strong-arm tactics from Featherstone to register a try on his debut, helping to extend Leigh’s club-record winning run to 26 matches.

On paper, at least, Rowley’s side are favourites to continue their impressive form at Whitehaven on Sunday.

The Cumbrians are second-bottom in the Championship with six points from 14 matches.

But they were unlucky to concede a late try in their 26-20 defeat to Workington at the weekend and Rowley has seen enough in their performances at the Recreation Ground to suggest they will provide tough opposition on home turf.

"They've just brought over a couple of recruits from France and they are very lively," he said of new faces Jordan Sigismeau and Louis Jouffre.

"Whitehaven are doing some good things in short spells.

"I think it's only a matter of time until they put it together for the full 80.

“On their own patch they are a totally different team – more motivated and enthusiastic and an all round better team than they are on their travels.

“Bradford won there a few weeks ago after a battle of a game.

"Their focus on home games seems to be somewhat different to their away games, they are progressing structurally and I'm sure will come up with a couple of good scalps."

Whitehaven’s side will be weakened, however, after Leigh blocked on-loan players Richard Beaumont and Johnny Walker from representing the Cumbrians.

Rowley said: "We won't have our own players play against us at any point. We've shown that before."