Warrington reject Oli Holmes insists he has “no hard feelings” towards boss Daryl Powell as he begins life at Leigh.
The one-time England international was cut by Wolves in October, just 12 months into a three-year deal. He was one of numerous players cleared out after the big-spending club endured an embarrassing 2022, finishing second-bottom in Super League. But it was particularly hard for the industrious second-row given he’d moved with Powell from Castleford where they’d enjoyed a close relationship and plenty of success.
Speaking publicly about the split for the first time, Holmes - who scored three tries in 24 Wolves appearances - insisted: “We’re all adults at the end of the day. We sat down, had a conversation and they explained the reasons. I accepted those reasons and we moved separate ways. Obviously, I was a little disappointed it came to an end with mine and Powelly’s relationship."
“We’d been together for nine years and I didn’t expect it to end so soon as I did have two years left on my contract. But business is business and these things happen in sport. There’s no hard feelings. We had a poor season by the club’s standards, and everyone else’s standards, which was fairly disappointing. Things hadn’t worked out but I thank Warrington for my time there. I learned a lot and hopefully I’ll take those lessons with me.”
For so long a Tiger, tough-tackling Holmes will look to kick-start his career with newly-promoted and rebranded Leigh Leopards. They’ve been instantly relegated on all three occasions they’ve earned promotion to Super League. But boss Adrian Lam’s brought in plenty of class including England centre Zak Hardaker, who won the 2017 League Leaders’ Shield at Cas alongside Holmes, and Huddersfield star Ricky Leutele.
Leeds winger Tom Briscoe has also joined along with four of Holmes’ Wolves team-mates - ex-Great Britain second-row Jack Hughes, Robbie Mulhern, Matt Davis and Jacob Gannon. Holmes, 30, is confident they can stay up and added: “We’re not looking at a relegation battle. We’re setting our sights a lot higher.
“There’s confidence running through the group and with what the club’s done on recruitment and staff, it does look and feel different to other times the it’s come up from the Championship.
"It’s a lot more committed now to staying up. Zak’s a quality player. It’s been good linking back up with him and I played with Gaz O’Brien at Cas. There’s high quality players and we’ve a good blend of ages.
“There’s obviously been a lot of swapping and changing from the players last year so it’ll take time to gel. But it’s all been really good so far and I feel we’re gelling well. Hopefully we can transfer that into the start of the season.”
