Adrian Lam provides Leigh Leopards injury update with prop back for Huddersfield Giants clash

Drew Darbyshire
Dan Norman Leigh Leopards Alamy

Dan Norman in a pre-match warm up for Leigh Leopards in 2024

Leigh Leopards coach Adrian Lam has confirmed that prop Dan Norman will return for Friday’s trip to Huddersfield Giants.

Ireland international Norman will make his comeback this week after passing his return to play concussion protocol to boost Leigh‘s forward pack options for their Round 12 clash with Huddersfield, who they lost 16-8 to in the opening round of the season.

“There’s only Dan Norman at the moment who is coming back from a failed HIA and the return to play protocols, so he’ll be in consideration to play,” Lam said.

“As with the other players, there’s not much change there for this week. We’ve had a few niggling injuries from the Salford game so we’re working hard to make sure everyone gets through (training okay) and we’ll make some decisions on Thursday at captain’s run before we play.”

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Leigh Leopards boss Adrian Lam provides full injury update ahead of Huddersfield Giants trip

Speaking in his weekly press conference, Lam provided a full injury update to most of his sidelined players, including Gareth O’Brien (calf), Ben Nakubuwai (soft tissue), John Asiata (hamstring), Nathan Wilde (collarbone) and Keanan Brand (knee).

Lam told Love Rugby League: “Both of those players (O’Brien and Nakubuwai) are probably a week or two away. John Asiata is probably three or four.

“Nathan is probably a week away as well. All of those players are back on field running now and it’s just a matter of getting that load up to make sure they’ve got enough in their legs. We’re pushing them really hard and pushing everyone to make sure they’re ready to go as quickly as possible.

“Keanan is probably two to three weeks away. He’s out of the brace and he has only just started running today, so he’s another one that’s on the mend but he’ll be another two or three weeks yet.

“It’s all come around really quickly, it’s interesting because as coach because when it first happens you think eight weeks is a long time but it goes pretty quickly.

“We’re unbeaten in the last three games albeit a draw with Castleford, but we’ve been unbeaten for the last month so we want to maintain that moving forward.

“A lot of the players have played more minutes than what they probably would have prior to these injuries and that makes it great for those players, but more importantly, it gives them experience that they wouldn’t have got on the field with us: the likes of Owen Trout and Ben McNamara. We’ve given debuts to Louis Brogan and Lewis Baxter, the list goes on. Dan Norman is back this week, so that’ll certainly help us through the middle.”

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