Leigh Leopards’ David Armstrong injury fear outlined as Adrian Lam reveals double blow

Leigh Leopards boss Adrian Lam is nervously waiting for scan results to determine the extent of David Armstrong’s knee issue. Armstrong was forced to leave the field last week during Leigh’s loss to Leeds Rhinos at Headingley, alongside Darnell McIntosh, who also sustained a knee issue.

McIntosh has been ruled out of this Friday’s game against Wigan Warriors, with scans revealing an MCL tear that will keep him out for a month at least. However, the Leopards are still waiting to hear a prognosis regarding Armstrong’s issue.

He has been for scans but the results aren’t due back until later on today (Thursday). Armstrong has been named in the 21-man squad this week while they await the news, but Lam is fearing the worst, with the head coach outlining the situation.

“I have a feeling that it’s not good news,” Lam admitted in his pre-match press conference on Thursday. “If that’s the case it’s not ideal for the team.

“He’s been nominated as one of the players of the month as we speak and he’s such an influential part of the growth of us of this journey this year with so many new faces.

“He’s played just about every week injured to be honest with you. That’s not ideal and a bit of luck. If this is a serious injury and we get the results that don’t look good, it might not be ideal for him but maybe an opportunity to work hard on his game and for us we’ll just move on and power on.

“Players like Gaz O’Brien when he played at full-back last week when he went off and Ben McNamara, they did it seamlessly. There’s also Bailey Hodgson who will come into consideration.

“Signs are that it isn’t good and it could be long-term. If that’s the case then we’ll deal with that as we see.”

Leigh Leopards boss on Robbie Mulhern and Darnell McIntosh

The head coach spoke about the aforementioned injury to McIntosh, too, while he also confirmed that Robbie Mulhern, who was included in Shaun Wane’s England squad this week, has torn his pec.

“Mulhern is going to be out for six weeks plus with a pec tear, ” he said. “That’s not ideal for us, he’s obviously one of our leaders and I think one of the best front rowers in the competition.

“That’s going to hurt us a little bit but we’ll power on. The other one is Darnell McIntosh for at least four weeks with an MCL tear.”