Adrian Lam gives Matt Moylan injury update after Leigh Leopards ‘gamble’

Leigh Leopards coach Adrian Lam has ruled Matt Moylan out of Sunday’s clash with Hull FC.

Having sat out of Leigh’s win over Castleford Tigers last week, Moylan was a doubt leading into the clash against Wigan Warriors on Tuesday night due to a rib issue. Despite the concern, the full-back put his hand up to play and Lam took the opportunity to select him for the derby at the Brick Community Stadium.

It quickly became evident that Moylan was not fully fit, though, with the former Cronulla Sharks man making at least two defensive errors in the build up to Wigan tries. He looked a shadow of himself and as he pulled out of catches and missed tackles, the decision was made to pull him from the contest at half-time.

As such, the 33-year-old was left to watch the remainder of the game from the entrance of the Brick Community Stadium tunnel, with what appeared to be an ice pack under his shirt. Speaking after the rearranged fixture, Lam admitted the decision to play Moylan was a risk that backfired, with the head coach confirming he will sit out of this weekend’s round 21 fixture.

“He was 50-50 to play with some rib cartilage issue and it was his call to play in the end so we ran with that,” Lam said after the game, per Love Rugby League.

“But roughly 15 minutes in we knew it wasn’t good so we just had to hang onto that until half-time. It was a bit of a gamble that didn’t pay off. We wanted to see if he could get through that but it just got worse as it went on so we just hung on until half-time.

“I don’t know if you could see him carrying the ball or defending, he just wasn’t himself. I sort of felt for him but I’ve been in that situation as a player myself and you know you’re mentally tough and physically think you can do it but when the physicality of it plays its part then it becomes a nightmare so it was that way tonight, we got that wrong so we’ll move on and continue.

“He won’t play this weekend. We’ve had two short turnarounds to away teams which is difficult to do so at least on this short turnaround we’re going home on Sunday to play Hull FC and they’ve got their own injury worries, too. Matt probably won’t figure in that but he won’t be too far off that.”