LEIGH'S Jamie Acton has agreed a two year contract extension to the end of November 2018.

The London born forward made his Centurions debut in 2014 and has become a big crowd favourite at LSV.

He originally moved north to play for Wigan Warriors Academy in 2011 and made his senior bow with South Wales and Oldham in 2012 before impressing in a season long stint at Workington Town in 2013.

Acton, 24, is delighted to extend his contract at Leigh Centurions and revealed that his admiration for Head Coach Neil Jukes and Owner Derek Beaumont was pivotal to the decision.

"I love it at Leigh and am really enjoying my time here," he said.

"I feel I still have loads of potential and am way off what I can offer the Club as a player.

"But there are some great role models here like Micky Higham, who is the epitome of a professional player, Gareth Hock and Dayne Weston, to name but three, and rubbing shoulders with them can only help develop me as a player.

"The Club has grown since Jukesy has taken the helm and going forward will become even more professional and I have bought into Derek's dream of establishing the Club in Super League.

"I really believe in him and I want to be part of that, spearheading the push to take the Club forward.

"I still think of myself as a junior player in terms of experience and I now want to go to the next level and know that to do that I have to be as professional as I can on and off the field."

Leigh Centurions Head Coach Neil Jukes said: "Jamie is developing his game on the field and his professionalism off the field.

"He has bought into what we want to achieve as a Club and he has a strong desire to get better.

"He is a good athlete and does what he is asked- he keeps his job real simple and the outcome is what we ask as coaches.

"He has improved his game and been one of our most consistent forwards this year.

"If he maintains this level of improvement he can develop into a top class forward."

Leigh Centurions Owner Derek Beaumont said: "I have always had a lot of time and respect for Jamie and hopefully been a positive influence on him as an individual.

"He is a real committed guy who is keen to improve himself and hungry to succeed.

"It is not surprising his attitude and performance have made him a fans' favourite and he richly deserves that for his hard work off the field.

"Jamie is always one of the last off the field spending time having pictures with the fans and puts his hand up at every time of asking to do club promos and community work.

"He is still young, just turning 24 and has improved significantly since joining us and I genuinely believe if he works on the areas Jukesy has identified and becomes the ultimate professional he can be, he could reward himself reaching his full potential by playing for his country.

"I know Jamie is extremely driven and I have set him a lucrative bonus should he achieve that in the future. We will benefit greatly from him applying himself to that challenge so we are all winners.

"Super League clubs had already started taking note in Jamie so I am pleased that he has shown me and Neil loyalty by continuing to believe in what we are doing as a Club and how we believe in him as a player.

"I look forward to seeing Jamie mature into a top class forward and I hope he has more contracts with Leigh ahead of him in the future and reaches his potential of international rugby."