NEW Leigh Leopards captain John Asiata wants to see his team-mate Edwin Ipape smash it in Super League this season.
The Papua New Guinea World Cup hooker was a star turn in the Championship last year, scoring 22 tries in as many appearances as Adrian Lam’s side romped to promotion.
Bookies think Ipape, who previously played for his country’s Queensland Cup team PNG Hunters and had long been on compatriot Lam’s radar, will carry on where he left off in 2022, when he played 27 times for Leigh in total and also crossed for a try as Featherstone were beaten 30-16 in the 1895 Cup Final.
Several have him as 10/1 favourite to succeed Salford’s Australian halfback Brodie Croft as Man of Steel (Betfred make the former 12/1 and the latter 16/1, with St Helens’ Jack Welsby 11/1 and Wigan’s Bevan French 14/1).
Ipape, who turns 24 next month, played in all four of PNG’s World Cup ties, against Tonga, Cook Islands, Wales and, in the quarter-finals, England, and is contracted to Leigh until 2025.
And former Samoa and Tonga forward Asiata thinks there is plenty more to come from him.
“There are a lot of good hookers in Super League, so it will be interesting to see how Edwin goes,” said the ex-North Queensland Cowboys and Brisbane Broncos forward.
“It will be good for him to test his skills against those guys, and these are exciting times for him.”
Speaking to the Leigh Journal, Asiata added: “I didn’t know much about him until he arrived at Leigh.
“But we saw him grow more confident in his ability. He began to understand the game more.
“He is a great runner of the ball but he started to pick his time when to run and when not.
“It is not just his attacking game that is sharp. You run at him and he will put you on your backside. He was one of our biggest hitters last year.”
