Following a dismal night with ball in hand against Hull KR, Leigh Leopards boss Adrian Lam has set out a challenge for his side ahead of their trip to Toulouse.
Scoring two unconverted tries, the Leopards had a night to forget at Craven Park on Friday, with not enough chances being created. The ones they did create, they were often bombed or fizzled out in a way that is very unlike Leigh of the last 18 months.
“Shambolic” and “disgusting” were the words used by Sky Sports pundit Jon Wilkin to describe the performance, in a result that could have seen Leigh go sixth in the table, albeit provisionally until St Helens defeated Huddersfield on Sunday.
Now though, they sit four points off the six, and will need to work extra hard to claw their way into the play-off spots, else the Leopards will see this season as one where they significantly underperformed.
Lam’s men travel to Toulouse this week to take on the French side, and ahead of that meeting, the boss has issued a challenge to his spine players after such a poor showing last time out.
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“We didn’t attack well, we didn’t play well on Friday night for whatever reason,” he said to the press this week. “It was a surprise to me because the last eight weeks have been getting better and better.
“So obviously very frustrated with that, but an honest review of the game and quite direct and honest, as I mentioned. If we can learn from that and get better from it, I’m okay with it.”
Star half-back Lachlan Lam was missing from the side that played at KR, however the Leigh boss insisted that was not the main reason why the attack was so poor.
He said: “I’m sure it played a little bit of a part last week, but that’s not the reason why we didn’t attack well. Our key players in 7, 6, 1, 9 and 13, they get education from me every single week on the way that we want to play and how we play, and they were the ones that let the team down last week.
“It was clear that we weren’t on the same page, and I’ve challenged them to respond. It’s unacceptable that. It doesn’t matter who pulls the jersey on, whether it’s Lokie Lam or Gaz O’Brien or whoever that may be, the job needs to get done, and we just weren’t good enough last week.”
Lam continued:Â “I thought Hull KR as well weren’t at their best, and it was probably our best opportunity to sneak a win up there, and we just didn’t aim up. I’m looking for a response from everyone, and I’m sure there will be this week.
“I felt that we just turned up there and got through it in half motion. We were a mile away with our performance, but not too far off the scoreboard when you look at the opportunities we had that we blew.
“That wasn’t acceptable. It wasn’t good enough, so I’m challenging the players to play how we train. It’s a simple one.
“The group that I call the spine, which are the players that do all the organising, I thought they were disappointing last week, so I’ll put a lot of pressure on them to make sure that that turns around quickly, and it will.”
