Leigh Leopards will be hoping to rack up a convincing scoreline this evening when they host Salford Red Devils at Leigh Sports Village. The Red Devils’ troubles are well known and they officially announced their 18-man squad on Thursday evening with Emmanuel Waine joining the club from Bradford Bulls on a month long loan.
He’ll be one of eight loanees in Paul Rowley’s squad this week with the Red Devils almost unrecognisable in terms of personnel from their last game at Hull FC a fortnight ago.
It’s fair to say Leigh could be set to look pretty unfamiliar too, with Adrian Lam promising to make six changes to his side. Joe Ofahengaue and Frankie Halton have dropped out of the 21-man squad, while Lam admitted that Edwin Ipape, Gareth O’Brien, Umyla Hanley and Owen Trout are all carrying issues.
As such, Leopards fans can expect a much-changed line-up with some fringe players getting the chance to shine against the Red Devils.
Bailey Hodgson can expect to start at full-back of course, but Lam has confirmed that Darnell McIntosh and AJ Towse will be included, which could see Keanan Brand moved inside to play at centre, where he has spent much of his career.
Ben McNamara can expect to get the nod in the halves in place of O’Brien, while Brad Dwyer is in place to start the game rather than the rested Edwin Ipape. Dwyer has hardly been involved for the Leopards in recent months and he’ll be determined to put his best foot forward against the side he represented against Hull earlier this month.
With Trout and Ofehengaue out, Alec Tuitavake might get the opportunity to start against the Red Devils, with Jack Hughes and Ethan O’Neill set to make up the back-row.
Matt Davis is capable of spelling Dwyer off the bench at hooker, while Aaron Pene looks set to make his long awaited return to action as an interchange after overcoming a back issue. Andrew Badrock will be involved, while it wouldn’t be beyond the realms of imagination to see Josh Charnley stepping onto the bench.
Salford don’t have much depth at their disposal at all, with youngers stepping up where needed to fill in the gaps. It seems plausible that Nathan Connell could start at full-back, with Sam Hill being the only Salford player in the outside backs with Louix Gorman, Jack Darbyshire, who will be playing against his parent club, and Neil Tchamambe arriving on loan this week.
Joe Mellor is fit and could be asked to play in the halves alongside Hull KR-bound Declan Murphy. Dan Russell returns to the fold, too, with Leon Ruan the most likely to play on the other side.
Emmaunel Waine looks set to make his Salford debut off the bench.
Predicted Leigh Leopards v Salford Red Devils line-ups
Leigh Leopards: Bailey Hodgson; Darnell McIntosh, Tesi Niu, Keanan Brand, AJ Towse; Ben McNamara, Lachlan Lam; Robbie Mulhern, Brad Dwyer, Alec Tuitavake; Jack Hughes, Ethan O’Neill; Isaac Liu.
Bench: Aaron Pene, Matt Davis, Josh Charnley, Andrew Badrock
Salford Red Devils: Nathan Connell; Sam Hill, Louix Gorman, Jack Darbyshire, Neil Tchamambe; Declan Murphy, Joe Mellor; Loghan Lewis, Finley Yates, Justin Sangare; Dan Russell, Leon Ruan; Harvey Wilson.
Bench: Emmanuel Waine, Tiaki Chan, Charlie Glover, Toby Warren.
