Leigh Leopards boss Adrian Lam hopes that now his side are in the top six, they can remain there for the rest of the season, but knows there is plenty of hard work still to be done.
After their win over Castleford Tigers last week, St Helens’ shock 46-0 defeat to Toulouse Olympique meant that the Leopards found themselves in the play-off spots for the first time this season.
Leigh’s start to the year is what cost them, but a sensational return to form over the past few months have meant they have clawed their way back into the six, somewhere they will be hoping to stay until September.
The club are level with Hull KR and Saints on 22 points, with Saints’ points difference meaning they are the unlucky ones in seventh.
Lam credited his squad for their incredible effort to climb up the table, and now they are in the six, he wants the narrative to change about the squad, both on the inside and out.
“It is [nice to be in the six],” he said to the press this week. “Since our promotion back up into Super League, we’ve been in the play-offs every year, which we’re very grateful for, but there’s been a lot of hard work there, and we’ve had a lot of injuries this year.
“That’s been pretty well covered, and there’s still a lot now as we speak and when we finally get a strong team, our best team against Warrington in the Magic Weekend, then we lose five or six players the week after.
“It just goes on and on and on but I can’t keep dwelling on the negatives, I want to be a coach that puts out the vibes to everyone. There’s opportunity for players even if you’re playing out of position and we’ll get all those players back at some stage.”
He continued: “What I am grateful of is even though we played poorly (against Castleford), we found a way to win, and we were resilient with that and courageous.
“You don’t do that if you’re not connected as a group. Even though you play bad and win, it’s a positive sign, so that’s the way I’ve taken it this week.
“By getting that win, it puts us in sixth spot, albeit points for and against, but hooray, it’s taken us 18, 19 rounds to get there and now we’re in there, we’ve got to make sure that we’ve got to stay there.”
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Lam reflected on the win over Castleford in his comments, and the boss was asked about two of his players in particular, the first being debutant Lazarus Vaalepu.
The prop joined the club recently from Melbourne Storm, and made his first appearance in what is a two-and-a-half-year contract at the club.
“I think he did reasonably well,” Lam said. “It’s very difficult to fly here all that way and then be jet-lagged and play in your very first game.
“It always takes four to six weeks for players when they arrive here to play their best rugby so we’ve got a lot of work to do with him in the sense of him getting to understand our systems and our DNA but pretty excited about it.
“There were some really positive signs there. He’s a big unit, he’s got some great leg speed, he works hard, he’s come out of a really good system in Melbourne so that helps but yeah I’m looking forward to help him develop into a player we need him to be.”
Another man Lam offered his assessment of was full-back David Armstrong, who was utilised on the wing over the weekend.
The former Newcastle Knights man has only recently returned from an ACL injury, and since his comeback, has been putting in some impressive displays.
Lam said: “I’m very happy that Davy’s starting to find some form. I think he was in the Super League team of the week in the last two weeks, which gives the players some confidence and some trust and some belief in themselves.
“When you’re coming back from a big injury, any little bit of feedback or positivity like that certainly helps a player grow, but he’s next level when he’s 100% fit.
“He’s getting close to that, he’s got that X-factor, he’s got speed to burn, he can kiss a bullet so we’re going to need him at this time of year whether he’s playing wing, centre or full-back.
“We’ve got to shuffle that around until we get some players back, but I’m hoping he can do more of that this weekend.”
