Centurions Delighted With Lee Smith Capture : Fri Feb 05, 2016 3:40 pm
Leigh Centurions are delighted to announce the signing of Lee Smith, 29, on a two year contract until the end of November 2017.Lee becomes Neil Jukes’s first signing since his appointment as Head Coach of Leigh Centurions and joins the Club as a free agent having spent the off season undergoing trials at Hull FC.
Lee Smith's signing takes the number of internationals in the Leigh Centurions playing squad to 13- an all-time Club record.
A vastly experienced and successful player at club and international level, Lee has spent most of his career at Leeds Rhinos after graduating through their Academy ranks.
Morley born, he was Rhinos’ Senior Academy Player of the Year in 2003 and made his first-team debut against Wakefield in March 2005. He went to prove his versatility by playing for the Rhinos in three different positions in successive Super League Grand Final successes.
He scored a try from the wing in the Rhinos’ 33-6 Grand Final victory over St Helens in 2007 and scored a try from fullback a year later as Rhinos defeated Saints 24-16. His display at Old Trafford that evening won him the prestigious Harry Sunderland Trophy as man of the match.
In 2009 he scored two tries from centre in Rhinos’ 18-10 victory over Saints at Old Trafford before embarking on what proved to be a short career in rugby union with London Wasps.
Lee returned to Leeds in February 2010 and went on to make 156 appearances for the club, scoring 68 tries with 34 goals and one drop goal. He experienced defeat in a major final, despite scoring a try, as Warrington Wolves defeated Leeds 30-6 in the 2010 Challenge Cup Final at Wembley.
In the summer of 2012 he joined Wakefield Trinity Wildcats and returned to rugby union to play for Newcastle Falcons in February 2014. He briefly returned to Wakefield at the end of the 2015 season when he crucially kicked a drop-goal in the Wildcats’ 17-16 win at LSV in the Super8s Qualifiers, one of six appearances for Brian Smith’s side last year. He made a total of 41 appearances for Wakefield with 23 tries, 79 goals and three drop goals.
Lee made his England debut in their Federation Shield success in 2006 and also represented his country in the 2008 World Cup and 2009 Four Nations tournament. In eight international appearances he has scored six tries and kicked one goal.
Lee needs three tries to join the elite band of players to score 100 tries in their senior Rugby League career. His current tally of 97 tries has come in 205 games and he has also kicked 114 goals and four drop goals.
Leigh Centurions Head Coach Neil Jukes said: “We met with Lee yesterday and obviously his CV speaks for itself. He's played in Grand Finals and played for his country. What I needed to be sure of was that Lee still had the enthusiasm and desire to continue to achieve things in his career.
"Lee was blown away by the facilities at LSV and the quality of players we have in the squad. He has the hunger and desire to do well for Leigh Centurions and with his ability he will strengthen the squad across a number of positions.
"He will apply pressure from within for competition for places- and that is good pressure because it will increase standards and ensure everyone stays focused on achieving our goals for the season ahead.
"Lee is my first signing since becoming Head Coach and I'm sure I'll look back in years to come that he proved to be an excellent acquisition for the Leigh Centurions Club."
Leigh Centurions Owner Derek Beaumont said: “ I have always stated that we will do what is necessary to ensure we give ourselves the best opportunity of achieving our goals.
"Losing Gregg was a huge blow and ironically was the area we had identified that we didn’t have out and out competition for amongst a relatively small squad. We can obviously cover all areas but the other positions have three people competing for spots.
"Lee Smith was the first person we approached after Gregg’s injury but after a very successful pre-season he was signing for Hull FC as was muted in the press. But unfortunately that wasn’t possible just yet and we were given the opportunity to speak to Lee.
"His proven track record speaks for itself and he still has age on his side at 29, yet a wealth of experience including experiencing the new structure of the middle eights where he was pivotal in the victory inflicted on us by Wakefield.
"It is always important when meeting a player that they buy into what we are trying to achieve. In the end we cannot get away from the fact we are asking proven Super League players to step down to a lower level and for them to do that they need to believe in us.
"Lee fully bought into what we are about and was naturally impressed with our facilities and the quality of our current squad. He is chomping at the bit to get himself with ball in hand and to be on the other end of the Leigh faithful when he graces the LSV."
Mr Beaumont added: "I would like to thank (Lee Smith's agent) Karl Harrison for the professional and swift manner in which he has dealt with this. I have only ever experienced Karl’s presence as a passionate coach of serious competitors and meeting him in these circumstances further reinforces that.
"I will only ever gauge my opinions of people on my own experience and not what others tell me. Karl has a good long standing knowledge of the game and in particularly the Championship and knows the players in the game. His representation of Lee has been very professional and at the same time as respectful to all interested parties including ourselves in the first instance when we were politely informed he was unlikely to become available.
"I welcome Lee to the Famileigh and congratulate Jukesy on his first signing. Lee was perhaps the most inquisitive of players regarding speaking to the Coach and he clearly bought into what he heard as we would expect. I have no doubt he will quickly be embraced by the rest of the squad and be an excellent addition to our Club. We will certainly be stronger for him and perhaps those who got a little excited by our loss of Gregg and Rolls will be reassured of our commitment to achieving our goals."
Great signing. Well done Leigh Centurions & Welcome to Leigh Lee. 
