Josh Charnley had just scored a try against St Helens.
As he ran towards the corner, I was already there waiting for him with a pen and a piece of paper.
The paper was a mock contract.
Josh took it, signed it and held it up to the crowd.
The reaction was huge.
What looked like an unusual try celebration was actually the announcement of Josh Charnley’s contract extension with Leigh Leopards, and the culmination of an idea that had been discussed and planned for weeks.
“Already done”
The story started on August 20, when our Director of Rugby, Andrew Henderson, sent me a message to tell me that Josh had agreed a contract extension.
Club owner Derek Beaumont wanted us to come up with a unique way to announce it.
Given the calibre of player Josh is, a standard contract graphic didn’t feel like enough.
The truth is, I’d already been talking through ideas with Josh about how we could announce it before he had even decided himself that he wanted to carry on playing beyond this season.
As the year went on, it became increasingly obvious through his performances that Josh had plenty left in him as a top-level Super League player. Breaking Super League’s all-time try-scoring record was obviously the standout moment, but he continued to deliver throughout the season.
Josh is a social media team’s dream. He’s a huge personality, a top-level athlete who delivers results and one of the nicest people you could meet.
He also loves getting involved with ideas. We had already started the season with Josh revealing our 2026 away kit in a very tongue-in-cheek fashion, and it was clear that if we were going to do something different for his contract announcement, he’d be up for it.
So when Hendo sent me the message, I replied within a minute: “Already done.”
I explained what we had in mind and he forwarded the idea on to Derek, who replied simply with a thumbs up.
If you know Derek, that’s probably the best seal of approval you can get. He loves getting involved with ideas at the club and often takes them and develops them further, but when there’s just a straight-up yes, you know it’s a good one.
The idea
With Josh having broken the try-scoring record during the season, and being the club’s leading try scorer, we felt the best way to announce his extension was with a try.
Josh is a winger, so most of his tries come in the corner.
The idea was simple: Josh scores, runs to the corner, gets handed a contract and signs it.
My colleague Alex designed the mock contract, with the real deal having already been agreed and signed weeks earlier.
One thing we felt was important was including Josh’s individual player sponsor, iXtract, who have been a long-standing supporter of Josh.
There was a last-minute moment of doubt from me about whether including the sponsor on something that could potentially be picked up by the match broadcast was the right thing to do.
Alex wasn’t having it.
He was adamant that it should be included, and ultimately he was right. It was an important part of the announcement and a nice way to recognise the support iXtract has given Josh.
Now for the easy part…
Josh scoring a try.
As a winger who scores most of his tries in the corner, the plan was always to be ready in the right place.
I film all of our games from behind the sticks to capture alternate angles that the broadcaster won’t get, so for the St Helens game I positioned myself in Josh’s corner.
The mock contract was in my bag.
The pen was ready.
All we needed was Josh to score.
He didn’t keep us waiting long.
In the 10th minute, Josh opened the scoring, crossing in the corner and giving us the opportunity we’d been waiting for.
I handed him the contract and pen.
He signed it.
The crowd erupted.
Leigh would go on to beat St Helens 48-10, but that first try had already delivered the moment we’d planned for.
The moment was picked up by the Sky Sports broadcast, with their reporter Jenna describing it during the game as “I think it could be the very best publicity stunt there is.”
BBC presenter JJ Chalmers also picked up on the moment, saying: “We need moments like that. We need characters like that. We want to grow this sport.”
For us, that was the best possible outcome. We wanted to create something that felt like a moment rather than simply another contract announcement on social media.
Keeping it secret
One of the biggest challenges was making sure nobody knew what was going to happen.
News of this nature can easily get out in professional sport. As a club, we’re not a news outlet; we are the news, so breaking stories isn’t always of significant benefit to us in the same way it is to outlets competing to get the first “click”.
But for this to have the maximum impact, keeping it under wraps was more important than ever.
We had a very, very small golden circle of people who knew what was going to happen.
There was even a great moment in the changing room after the game when Josh was discussing signing his contract with his teammates, and most hadn’t realised what had happened.
They’d seen him score.
They’d seen the celebration.
They’d heard the reaction from the crowd.
But they hadn’t realised that Josh had just announced his new contract.
When everything comes together
A lot of things have to fall into place for an idea like this to work.
We’ve had plenty of ideas over the years that have fallen away because the stars haven’t quite aligned. Sometimes the timing isn’t right, sometimes the circumstances change and sometimes an idea just doesn’t work in practice.
This one did.
The contract had been agreed weeks earlier. Josh was fully on board. The mock contract was ready. The right opportunity came along, Josh scored in the corner and the celebration went exactly as we’d planned.
Then came the coverage.
Seeing Sky Sports pick it up during the game, hearing the reaction from the BBC and seeing the moment travel beyond our own channels was a great reward.
Josh Charnley is the top Super League try scorer of all time. He deserved an announcement that reflected the player and the personality.
We could have posted a graphic saying Josh Charnley had signed a contract extension.
Instead, he scored a try, signed a contract in front of the crowd and let everyone know himself.
And that’s what made it special.