Leigh Leopards

Leigh Leopards boss slams “not good enough” aspect of Salford win in ‘job done’ verdict

by
Sam Cook
April 26, 2025

Leigh Leopards head coach Adrian Lam has reacted to his side’s win over Salford Red Devils, picking fault with a major aspect.

The 28-6 win moves Leigh to second in Super League but it perhaps wasn’t the performance that the Leopards boss wanted, although there are plenty of possible reasons why.

Among those was the huge number of players missing including Keanan Brand who pulled out in the warm-up which forced a last minute change and Lam did note his side’s absent stars.

Having scored after just 86 seconds and once again after eight minutes, it looked like Leigh could put on a huge score but they limped through most of the second-half, only taking it from 24-6 to 28-6 in the final minute when Josh Charnley scored his 249th Super League try.

Reflecting post-match, Lam said: “It’s important that we came here and get the win. There were a lot of changes in our own team, I know Salford had a few as well, but we had to just put that aside and just make sure that we come here and get the job done.

“I think probably six changes and then Keanan Brand pulling out late certainly can disrupt the team and the momentum of the game and it was difficult to watch at times but we got the result.”

Leigh Leopards boss bemoans penalty count in Salford win

Facing Salford at the moment isn’t necessarily an easy feat given the expectations and having scored three tries within 20 minutes and effectively killed the game off, Leigh perhaps found it tough to keep that focus.

Asked about that, Lam noted the game’s lopsided penalty count with his side being ill-disciplined, particularly in the second half.

Lam explained: “I think it’s a matter of just being professional with who we are and the identity of us as a team. It’s easy to lose your mind before the game and the attitude slides.

“I think the penalty count was something like 11-3 today and that’s just not good enough and maybe there’s something in that as well but we’ll worry about that at another time. I’m just grateful that we got the start that we we asked for and as you said the game was more or less done up at stage.”

That saw him add: “I know there’s a lot of growth still left and there’s a lot of new faces and we’re still growing as a club so we’re excited about that.”

Having started fast before then drawing with Hull FC and then losing to Hull KR and Wakefield, Leigh have found form and marched up the table and Lam thinks that a possible lull could be on the horizon, something he plans to stop.

He said: “I think it’s quite common that that happens when you’ve got a new group and usually it can happen again around the halfway part of the season so we’re preparing for that but that’s just through the experiences that I’ve had in rugby league.

“I think you’ve just got to look at the process and make sure that you stick with keeping together in difficult times and making them believe that that will improve the team.”

Aiding that improvement would be the return of their stars, as Lam noted: “Players sitting there like David Armstrong and even Joe Ofahengaue, Tesi Niu, Umyla Hanley and Frankie Halton and the list goes on of those that didn’t play today. So we look forward to them coming back in the next week or two and then making sure we just be consistent with our performance.”