Leigh Leopards receive major injury boost in bid to avenge Wakefield Trinity defeat

Leigh Leopards head coach Adrian Lam has confirmed a major injury boost ahead of his side’s Challenge Cup clash with Wakefield Trinity.

Hosting Wakefield on Friday night in Super League’s 5,0001st game, the Leopards were beaten handily as they lost 40-14 with Wakefield’s England duo of Mike McMeeken and Tom Johnstone both scoring braces.

One man who Leigh had hoped would be back for that game but unfortunately didn’t pass fit in time was Robbie Mulhern but the Leopards boss has provided a positive update on the England international’s chances.

Speaking to the media, Lam confirmed: “It looks like Robbie is going to be fine to play so we’re pretty excited about that. He’s a larger-than-life personality and a great leader who leads both on and off the field.”

Whilst Mulhern will be a welcome boost, he might be the only one with Lam asked about the prospect of other possible returnees.

“No, and that’s okay”, he responded, adding: “We hadn’t pinned our hopes on anyone else coming back so we’ll just focus on those who we have got. “I think it’s more about the players that played and see if we can change slightly the attitude there and performance.

“I think it will be the same team and add in Robbie Mulhern and we’ll be good to go.”

Leigh Leopards set to see two stars return in the next fortnight

Adding Mulhern will certainly help Leigh to try and avenge that heavy defeat but Adrian Lam is more than aware that his return won’t solve the issue on it’s own.

He did however note that Mulhern is perhaps the most important return that Leigh could have asked for, as he stated: “I think if you want one player coming back into your squad at Leigh then it’s probably Robbie because, like I said, he’s larger than life in terms of his presence within the group, he’s a great leader and when we lost some of those senior players last year, he was the one that we kept. His actions lead his way more than his words.”

He admitted: “His arrival back single-handedly isn’t going to beat Wakefield and we understand we’ve got a lot of work to do from last week and and we’ve prepped pretty well so far.

“We’re just going to make sure that you know we deliver a little bit differently than what we did last week but certainly his inclusion will help.”

Whilst Frankie Halton returned last week and Robbie Mulhern set to return this week, it leaves just the club’s first-choice wingers as those on the long-term injury front but Lam confirmed that it might not be as long-term as previously thought.

He said: “The other ones who are still out are Josh Charnley and Darnell McIntosh but they’re probably both back in the next fortnight so that tops off everyone really. Add one or two players to that as we go into the next six weeks and and then we’re close to where we need to be.”