Adrian Lam slams Oliver Gildart no try decision

Leigh Leopards travel to Hull KR this week after they were beaten by Wigan Warriors last week, a loss that cost them fourth spot and a precious home play off game.

It was a heart-breaking blow for a club who have achieved so much in 2023 and perhaps deserved to celebrate those achievements with a home semi final in front of their fans.

Now though they will travel to Craven Park this weekend in a tough game that is do or die, facing Rovers for the fifth time and hoping for a fourth victory.

Speaking to Serious About Rugby League, Lam explained how brutal the loss to rivals Wigan was as he previewed the Leopards’ first ever Super League playoff match.

“Yeah, very tough game but everyone’s got through okay. Tough in the sense of in all areas such as where we ended up finishing on the ladder without a result and just an adjustment to the rest of the ladder.

“I was very proud of the effort and energy as I always am. They were a really resilient, tough team.”

Asked if he treated the game like a playoff match, he said: “Obviously we had a few key people out in key positions, like Ricky Leutele on the left, Hardaker on the right, John Asiata through the middle and Frankie Holton off the bench. They’re four really important players for us.

“So we had to try and adjust our rugby a little bit to suit. The best way of doing that is to put your best foot forward in a cracker game and everyone get through it and give our best.

“We were pretty close and didn’t get the money but I felt there was a lot of positives in that.”

There was a controversial moment when Oliver Gildart had a try disallowed and Adrian Lam had his say on the matter:

“Yeah, I looked at that and 100% I think any rugby league fan, supporter, media, administrator, anyone involved in the game knows that that was a try except for the two people that counted the most.

“You can’t change that now, we’ve just got to get on with it. You can’t do anything about it, we’ll sort things through the official way on things like that and we’ve just got to get on with it because the semi-finals are here.

“We’ve worked really hard to hold a place in this in the semi-final and the top six, we’ve earned the right to do that and it’s been an incredible journey this year and success and memories, but we’re not finished.”