The rigorous demands of the Super League season being too much is a conversation that has sparked in the past few days after comments by Matt Peet, Sam Burgess and Willie Peters, however, Leigh Leopards boss Adrian Lam has taken an opposing view.
Peet and Burgess will face off against each other on Friday night when a battered and bruised Wigan take on an under strength Warrington with both sides heavily hampered by injuries, and both coaches have called for an easing of the Super League schedule to soften those injury issues.
For Burgess, more byes need to be introduced and that was something that Willie Peters agreed with as he argued that the competition’s quality is being diluted as a result of injuries, even going as far as to say it’s a player welfare issue.
Adrian Lam became the latest coach to be asked about that debate but he’s opposed the idea that the current schedule is what’s causing the high number of injuries.
“I don’t agree with that. We’re paid as professional people to entertain the fans,” the Leigh boss said.
“I think maybe at the start of the year when the game was sped up through the ruck, I think it had a little bit more to do with that than to do with overplaying.”
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More Super League games rather than less for Lam
For Lam, he even admitted that he would play more games if possible, stating: “My opinion is that I love the way the competition is at the moment. I think everyone’s doing a great job with it. I’d play more games if we could. That’s what the fans are for and that’s what our sport’s for.”
The Leigh boss also highlighted the fact that a number of the injuries over Magic Weekend may have come as a result of playing on a different surface, whilst he outlined the challenges his own side have had in the past two weeks.
“There was a lot of injuries on the weekend too at a different surface, that’s not being brought up,” Lam argued.
“We played at Toulouse the week before in 41 degree temperature and then on a seven-day turnaround into a football ground. We’re not making any excuses for any of the injuries, but there certainly was a lot.”
With almost every Super League coach now either having already been asked or set to be asked about the matter of the demanding schedule, the debate certainly won’t quieten down
