Leigh Leopards head coach Adrian Lam has warned that despite the Papua New Guinea Chiefs publicly ruling themselves out of signing Edwin Ipape, there could still be interest to come from the NRL club.
Ipape, an icon back home in PNG, is contracted until the end of the 2031 season after signing a six-year deal last season that ensured he was the longest-contracted player in the competition.
Because of that lengthy contract, the Chiefs’ managing director, Michael Chammas, admitted that the incoming NRL club wouldn’t be pursuing Ipape given both the length of the contract and the fact that, in his understanding, there was no NRL get-out clause.
Asked about those comments today at his pre-match presser, Adrian Lam welcomed the news but suggested that attention will not go away for the star hooker.
“It’s a little bit of foresight,” Lam said in reference to the fact Ipape’s contract reportedly has no NRL clause, seemingly confirming that fact, however, he added.
“I think I’ve mentioned in the past that I don’t think that one is over just yet so we’ll wait and see.”
Asked to elaborate, Lam was coy as he replied: “I’ll let you work that out, I’m not going to comment too much on that but he’s a big personality in the country.
“He’s massive for us, it seems like he’s contracted here until he’s 45-years-old, I hope that’s the case that he will be anyway but I just think that, we’ll wait and see what happens.”
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The comments from Michael Chammas came early in June during the Australian’s visit to England, in which he spoke with incoming PNG Chiefs head coach Willie Peters and also spoke to a number of the Papua New Guinean internationals at London Broncos.
Speaking to NRL.com, Chammas said: “Everyone keeps asking us about Edwin Ipape.
“The reality is that Edwin Ipape signed a six-year deal to stay at Leigh and as far as has been reported, there is no NRL get-out clause for him, so we’ve got to respect his position there.”
Chammas had also commented on Adrian Lam’s son and Leigh’s playmaker Lachlan Lam, who is contracted until the end of the 2027 season therefore could be available for the Chiefs to sign.
On that, Chammas said: “Just like the NRL, we know the rules we’re playing by and if things pop up, we’ll deal with them.
“But at the moment there are some rules around certain players that limit what we can do.”
The rules in reference are that players cannot be spoken to until they enter the final year of their contract, with November 1st the key date for that.
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