Super League coach expecting rivals to play “like it’s a final”

This weekend’s Super League action concludes in West Yorkshire.

It is a game many expected to be a relegation four pointer but seems far from it for one side.

That side is the visiting Leigh Leopards who have beaten Hull KR, Super League and World Champions St Helens and Hull FC to start the season and therefore have a six point advantage on their opponents Wakefield Trinity who sit bottom of the league.

Leigh will also be just two points shy of the play-offs with a win on Sunday.

They are taking on a Wakefield side who are still winless who suffered a closely fought defeat against Castleford Tigers last week in Rivals Round which left them cut adrift at the bottom.

Trinity need a win and back at home this perhaps is a good chance against a Leigh side who also lost last week despite a good performance.

So the stage is set and Leigh boss Adrian Lam has claimed on the club’s YouTube channel that he expects Wakefield to play the game like it’s a final:

“The challenge is to go to Wakefield who will certainly play like it’s a final.

“I know that they’re doing their best at times and they’re playing quire an open style of rugby to try and get some confidence off the back of that.

“I know that as a club this will be a game that they’ll want to win and think that they can win so it’ll be a massive final sort of feeling towards the start of the game.

“They’ve been unlucky on a couple of occasions I felt, they probably should have won the other week and then Salford.

“They’ve got some great individuals throughout their team, you look through their line-up and there’s some good players there. It won’t be long before it clicks.”

Meanwhile he called for a response from his own player:

“For us it’s about responding to last week’s performance. I was really disappointed after the game and really got angry in the dressing room. I was quite direct and personal, I felt that we took a step backwards last week as a team.

“Every week, even though we’ve lost a couple, I’ve seen improvement which is all we can do every week until we get to that point where we’re an 80 minute team.

“But last week I thought we took a step back so there’s lots for us to improve on as well, there’s lots for us to work on and lots for us to aim for so as much as this is a big game for Wakefield, it’s also a big game for us.”