It is his first game in charge since officially taking over the coaching reins, but he did see the club play at Whitehaven on Bank Holiday Monday and against Warrington in the Carnegie Challenge Cup, and on both occasions a lack of self discipline let the side down.
But Kelly is not to harsh on his new charges and states that he is only asking them to respect what is theirs.
"I watched against Warrington more as an observe." He pointed out, " But against Whitehaven I was keen to learn what I could as the new coach, and although we lost there were a great number of positives we could take from the game.
" But with just a couple of training sessions under our belt before Sunday, there is not I can or would change , except that we have to tighten up and stop giving away what is ours, whether that is possession or position.
" Far too often in the games I watched, we would pt ourselves in good position with good play, or a good kick and then relive the pressure for the opposition by giving away a silly penalty. And that not only let them off the hook but usually pushed us back down field so that we had to do all the hard work of getting into a good attacking position again.
On other occasions we made a play that gifted possession.
" We have to tighten up and concentrate on our ball control and discipline. If we can do that we can start to affect the possessions tats, and that will give us more opportunity to put the opposition under pressure from which we would expect them to make mistakes. More pressure and more points. If we do make an error, then we have to keep the ball in the part of the field where we turned it over.
" It's simple, but if we can address that, then we can work on other areas over the coming weeks as I get to know the players better and they get to know what I want."
Leigh had injury doubts over Toa Kohe Love and Dennis Moran after the Whitehaven match, but both seem to have recovered for the coming Rovers game. But with Chris Hill suspended and Mike Morrison due with the RFL Disciplinary Committee after the Leigh reporter went to press, it looks like Kelly may be without two of his front line props for Sunday. And a third, Gareth Price is rated extremely doubtful with a hamstring injury.
" I knew about Chris. "admitted Neil, " I was pleading for him on my first day in charge. Now on week two I am up with Mike. Whatever happens now they will think I have improved the discipline if I am not there next week." he jokes.
But even though the potential loss of all three players does present a problem, Neil is not letting it phase him.
" We are were we are and we get on with it." He stresses, " I watched the under 21's last week against Widnes and was impressed. On the back of that Adam Thomas , Dale Cunniffe and John Cookson have been drafted into the squad for Sunday.
" Featherstone are a good solid side. They have key men in Paul Handforth , Tony Hockey and Tommy Saxton and will be a tough nut to crack. But from what I have seen we have the players to beat them and to start to pull up the League.
" At present I am getting to know the team, and it will be two or three weeks before I can identify where we may need strengthening or if we need to bring in a couple of new players.
" But firstly we need to start playing well, and the wins will follow, and Sunday is our first test."

End