Leigh Leopards head coach Adrian Lam has sent an ominous message to Super League that there’s more to come from a recent standout.
That standout was NRL recruit Joe Ofahengaue who went incredibly well on his debut at Super League Magic Weekend, playing an hour despite landing in the country just a week earlier.
That hour-long shift saw him make 24 tackles but more importantly he did not miss one, whilst he also took a whopping 21 carries and churned out 161 metres. That was the most of any player in the game and put him among the top metre makers at Magic Weekend.
Ofahengaue also got three offloads away and didn’t commit a single error or penalty in a near flawless debut and Adrian Lam reckons there is still a lot more to come.
“Very good,” Lam responded when asked for his thoughts on the former Parramatta man’s Super League debut.
“He played 60 minutes out of the 80 and he hadn’t played that much time in the NRL previous to that so I was just really pleased that within seven days and playing his first game.”
Leigh Leopards reaping the rewards of “homework” on recent recruit
The Leigh head coach had spoken previously about having space on the salary cap to strike when the time was right and bringing Ofahengaue in ahead of Magic and the Challenge Cup semi-finals feels a very apt time for the Leopards to sign the prop.
Despite impressing on debut, Lam still believes there is more to come as he noted: “Players that come from Australia, as we all know, take time to get their best rugby out so he’s played big minutes, which will help him.
“He’s probably still jet-lagged in some way when he played, but he’s certainly a leader as well. We’ve seen some really good habits. We’ve done our homework on Joe and what he’s going to bring to us is going to be next level stuff. So we’re pretty excited about what lies ahead for him.”
Lam would also confirm that the former Eels star is a ‘big dressing room presence’ and that over time, he expects him to be a key leader.
He revealed: “We’ve had conversations and clarity around the fact that he needed to lead with his actions before his voice, I felt.
“He hasn’t said too much in the first week, but I know he’s a great communicator and it’s an area there which will certainly help us in.”
🐆 𝟮𝟭 𝗦𝗤𝗨𝗔𝗗 𝗦𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗘𝗗
The lineup has been chosen, Lammy’s 21 man squad for this weekend’s Challenge Cup Semi Final. pic.twitter.com/4H4hzKCfwK
— Leigh Leopards (@LeighLeopardsRL) May 9, 2025
