Leigh Leopards’ season has been defined by injuries so far but Adrian Lam has his fingers crossed for at least some relief this weekend.
The Leopards were without 10 players last weekend when they took on Catalans Dragons, with the likes of Edwin Ipape, Joe Ofahengaue and Bailey Hodgson all being ruled out for a few weeks at the very least.
Matt Davis was one of those men, with the utility forward taking a blow to the head the previous week against Wigan Warriors. Davis would ordinarily be eligible to play on Saturday then as Leigh host Hull FC in the fourth round of the Challenge Cup on Saturday, but Lam has stopped short of confirming his availability with the Leigh boss admitting the 29-year-old was still experiencing symptoms earlier this week.
As such, Davis will be given until later this week to show he is fully fit and able to compete against the Black and Whites.
However, Lam has confirmed that Louis Brogan, who has been out with a long-term knee injury, could be available this week after being named as 18th man against Catalans.
“Louis Brogan comes into play and Matty Davis comes into play as well off the back of the HIA protocols, he’s now eligible to be selected,” Lam said in this afternoon’s press conference. “That has been slow that and it hasn’t been ideal for Matt, he was still having some symptoms earlier on in the week.
“We’ll give him right up until kick-off to be right. He has a chance of not playing or not being considered come game time if the symptoms persist.
“Brogan is there. There won’t be too many changes to the team and sometimes that’s not bad. You’ve got to make sure you deal with what’s in front of you and these players were disappointed last week with the performance and we want to respond to that.”
On Davis specifically, Lam added: “There are certain signs and protocols that we have to follow to make sure that he can be in a position to be considered for selection. One of those is making sure there’s no further headaches or dizziness or anything related to it that you can think of can delay the players’ return to play.
“Matt has experienced a little bit of that and we have to make sure that we take care of him as our priority.”
RFL error, coaches under pressure and Super League’s injury crisis – click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show
