Adrian Lam was left to lament his Leigh Leopards side’s ill-discipline following their loss to Wakefield Trinity on Friday night.
The Leopards were beaten 18-14 by the Trin at Belle Vue to fall to their fourth straight defeat in the Super League.
That’s despite scoring tries through Gareth O’Brien, Josh Charnley and Jacob Alick-Wiencke in West Yorkshire on the night.
Ultimately, given they only had 18 fit players going into the contest, Leigh were underdogs on the night and they did succeed in pushing Daryl Powell’s side very close. But Lam believes his side let themselves down with their ill-discipline.
“The discipline hurt us at a couple of key moments in the game,” Lam told Sky Sports. “There was plenty of effort and I guess that’s what I’m looking for, just them being connected as a team. It was very, very clunky and too many penalties hurt us in the end.
“I think it was 7-1 the penalty count at half-time. I don’t know how consistent that is across the board but it’s certainly hurting us and probably that repeat kick and the try just after half-time certainly hurt us as well.”
On his side’s injury situation, he added: “We’ve just got to stay positive through these difficult times. We only had 18 players to pick from and 11 at training this week.
“It’s not about getting too concerned about it, it’s about staying positive and being there for each other through the difficult times. We’re not far off, it seems a long way at the moment, but watching their reactions, we’re not far.”
The Leopards did have some good news as Gareth O’Brien passed a HIA after being forced off the field with a flashing mouthguard, despite showing no signs of concussion.
“It’s just gone off again as he was running into the changing room,” Lam admitted. “That’s the feedback I’ve just had.
“I had some comments on this the other day. We understand we’re working to the 15 minute rule but if there’s nothing wrong with it then there should be some sort of exemption, whether it’s a five minute block on the mouthguard if there’s no signs whatsoever, they could go back on. He was a key player for us in the last 15-20 minutes of the game.
“It was the same as Catalans, we needed him in the last 15 minutes. It’s not ideal but I think it’s something we need to look at. They’re the rules at the moment and that’s not the reason why we lost, but it’s something to think about.”
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