LEIGH coach Paul Rowley admits he is wary of the threat posed by Lee Gaskell and reckons the Bulls star is as good as any playmaker in Super League.

Gaskell snubbed interest from top-flight teams to commit his future to Bradford following the club’s relegation and will face Rowley’s men in Sunday’s crunch Championship opener.

Leigh dominated the Championship last year, racking up 23 wins from 24 regular-season games before beating Featherstone in the Grand Final at Headingley.

They have since signed NRL legend Fuifui Moimoi but Rowley reckons all the pressure is on Bradford to make an immediate top-flight return this year.

The Centurions boss said: “Lee Gaskell is a wonderful player and if you give him space he’s as good as any half-back in Super League.

“He’s such a tall lad as well and his kicking game for Bradford is a major threat which we’re well aware of.

“We’ll treat Gaskell with the respect that he deserves and do our best to stop him.

“But all the pressure is on Bradford because they’re the promotion favourites, and rightly so.

“They beat all the big Super League clubs towards the end of last year and we know we’ve got a monumental challenge ahead of us.

“We’re a club that’s trying to progress and Bradford are a club trying to hold on and claw their way back up.

“They have had a setback that we’ve not had but Bradford have got the structure and the finance.

“But we’ll put our own pressure on ourselves so there is pressure on both sides.

“I think people have learnt now that we love a challenge at Leigh and we’re excited at the prospect of facing a very big and formidable Bradford Bulls side.”

Leigh have played four pre-season friendlies and won them all, with Rowley adding: “Only two of those games (Wigan and Keighley) involved our first team so it's similar to Bradford in that we've only had two friendlies.

“I’ve watched Bradford’s games against Castleford and Leeds and they mixed things around in the second half at Castleford with all the youngsters.

“But the beauty of Bradford and where they have come from is that they have not lacked exposure for the last 12 months.

“We know quite a lot about their individuals and we like to think we’ve learnt a bit about how they want to play from watching their two friendly matches.

“It’s about us and the great thing is that there is an element of unpredictability about games so early in the season.

“The intelligence on both sides will be somewhat limited and it’s a case of going out there to live and learn. Let’s see who thinks on their feet the best on Sunday.”

Epalahame Lauaki seems certain to miss out this weekend and Rowley said: “Either way, they’ve got plenty of forwards available and some big forwards too.

“They’ve very much gone back to the Bradford of a decade or so ago, where they had such a big side and wore teams down so often.

“It seems that they are looking at something similar again.”

A crowd of over 6,000 – Leigh’s biggest for a decade – is expected on Sunday.

“It’s going to be a great game and a wonderful occasion with two fantastic sets of supporters,” said Rowley.

“I’m sure the Bradford fans won’t want to be outdone by the Leigh supporters, who will be intent on doing that.

“The Bradford fans need to cross the Pennines in their numbers because it’s not that far. As soon as they get over, see the sun and follow it, they’ll know they're in Leigh.”