Ex-Leigh Leopards star on ‘no-brainer’ NRL move and Adrian Lam influence

Leigh Leopards saw star second-rower Kai O’Donnell make the move back Down Under at the end of the 2024 season and the 25-year-old has now spoken to club media after starting his pre-season duties.

Among the topics discussed were the painful injury that ended his season, what he learned in England and how influential Adrian Lam was on his development.

Development was certainly the key word around O’Donnell with the Aussie back-rower, who signed with the club during their 2022 Championship campaign, transforming into arguably the best in his position in Super League whilst at Leigh Leopards.

As Leigh marched towards the play-offs in the second half of the 2024 season, O’Donnell was consistently among the best performers for the Leopards.

It was no surprise to see the NRL come calling and he penned a deal to return to his boyhood club North Queensland Cowboys, with whom he has now begun pre-season.

Former Leigh Leopards star on ‘no-brainer’ move

Whilst he’s back in and amongst it, O’Donnell still has not returned to full contact training after a nasty injury cut his Leigh Leopards spell short, with the second-rower missing the play-offs.

On that, he said: “In the last round of the season, I got a bit of a whack in the kidney and ended up getting a tear in it. I wanted to play but the doc was on me and I was peeing a fair bit of blood.

“I’m all good to go now though. I had a scan last week and it came back all clear. I’ve just got to see a specialist and get it all ticked off before I can go back into full contact.”

O’Donnell was one of Leigh Leopards’ prominent off-contract players but it seems that the Super League outfit had no chance of retaining him, particularly given the Cowboys’ interest.

On returning to his boyhood club, O’Donnell said: “I’m very proud. This club means a lot to me. I signed here as a junior so to get the opportunity to come back and sign here was a no-brainer for me. I’m really proud and happy to be back here.”

Whilst he debuted in the NRL back in 2020, he quickly moved back to the NSW and Queensland Cup competitions before Leigh signed him for their 2022 Championship campaign. He’d score 14 tries that year in just 23 games before then mixing it at Super League level as well.

“I feel like I needed it to mature as a player,” O’Donnell said when speaking about his time in England, before paying huge credit to the Leigh Leopards coaching team.

“To step away and focus on the fundamentals of the game. I’ve had some good coaching over there with Adrian Lam and Tony Clubb.

“Adrian has played a fair chunk of NRL and Origin so to get some of the knowledge off him has been a blessing in disguise because I feel I understand the game a lot better coming back.”

Leigh have attempted to replace O’Donnell with the signature of Ben Condon from Manly as Adrian Lam’s side were forced into a major squad overhaul for the 2025 campaign.