CHRIS Green reckons Leigh Centurions are a Super League side in the making and is determined to help turn hope into reality.

Green has spent the vast majority of his 200 plus game career in the top flight and twice collected Challenge Cup winners’ medals at Hull FC.

And the 32-year-old prop, playing for a non-Yorkshire based club for the first time, is determined to return himself and Leigh to the upper echelons of the game as soon as possible.

That expectancy starts on Sunday when Whitehaven visit Leigh Sports Village on Sunday (kick-off 3pm) for the first game of the 2022 Betfred Championship season.

“There is added pressure for us having come down and wanting to go straight back up,” said Green whose brief forays into the lower tiers have included loans at York, Doncaster and Featherstone.

“It will be tough. But the group we have got to together and the way we train is Super League standard.

“For me, it is refreshing to play among new players and a new system. I saw the vision Leigh have through Derek Beaumont to come back upto Super League.

“I have played all my career in Super League and excited to get back to that level, enjoying my rugby again and to start winning games.

“From a player’s point of view every game we play we need to set a standard starting this weekend.”

Leigh impressed despite losing 16-6 to champions St Helens in Alex Walmsley’s testimonial game last Friday. Centre Nene Macdonald was a standout performer while Joe Wardle grabbed Centurions’ try.

Half back Joe Mellor and prop Adam Sidlow, two of only a handful of players retained from last season, have been named as joint captains for 2022.

Whitehaven completed their pre-season campaign with a 28-22 defeat at Swinton Lions last Sunday.

Leigh have won their last 11 meetings with the Cumbrians since losing 36-22 in 2009.

Sunday’s clash will be the teams’ first since June 2016 when Leigh won 36-12 helped by a Travis Burns’ try double.

*Leigh’s return to Summer Bash action for the first time since 2019 with a mouth-watering Saturday night clash against Featherstone Rovers.

The two-day tournament for Championship clubs takes place on the weekend of July 30-July 31 with Headingley hosting the event for the first time.

Centurions beat Widnes 36-22 on their last appearance at Bloomfield Road, Blackpool in 2019.

* Utility back Brendan Elliot, who played 11-times for Leigh last season, has signed a 12-month contract with North Queensland Cowboys.

Elliot, 28, scored three tries for the Centurions, including a double in the end of season 42-24 Super League defeat by Huddersfield Giants.