BEWARE the wounded Dragon! Paul Terzis has told his troops to ignore Doncaster's financial plight and warned of the danger of taking the Dragons lightly.
The Centurions put their 100 per cent Northern Ford Premiership record on the line at Belle Vue on Sunday, fully aware that they face one of their biggest challenges of the season so far.
Leigh won't be fooled by the steady exodus of players from the Dragons who have run into severe off-field problems.
"No matter what team they turn out on Sunday, Doncaster will be dangerous opponents," warns Terzis. "They play with pride and passion and those are two areas we have to match," he adds.
In recent weeks Doncaster have lost several major players after the club slashed contract payments in the face of mounting debts. Only this week two more stars jumped the Belle Vue ship, Lynton Stott joining Workington and Brad Hepi switching to Castleford.
"They showed with their victory at Widnes last week, that they still have the fire-power to compete with the best in the NFP," adds Terzis. "We can't afford to take them lightly and we've prepared all week for a real arm wrestle.
"Some of their top players might have left, but there are other match winners still there. Paul Mansson destroyed us when he played for Widnes last season; I rate Craig Weston as one of the best outside backs in the NFP and in the forwards they've got real competitors in Maea David, Asa Amone and Peter Edwards.
"They are still a top eight side and they have more pluses than people give them credit for."
Terzis is keeping his own selection cards close to his chest and won't declare his 17 until just before kick off.
Injured Kieron Purtill (shoulder), Chris Morley (ankle) and Phil Kendrick (ribs) are all major doubts but Simon Baldwin, Paul Anderson, Andy Leathem and John Duffy will all be back after taking a breather last weekend.
Joint skipper Andy Fairclough and front rower Paul Norman both made successful comebacks in the Alliance side on Wednesday after being out for a month with injury. Both could figure in Sunday's squad.
There are two good pieces of injury news for Leigh this week with prop Tim Street expected to have the plaster removed from his broken thumb in the middle of next week while a specialist has ruled that Alan Hadcroft does not need surgery on his dislocated shoulder.
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