Leigh coach delivers vow of confidence as lack of recruitment addressed

Leigh Leopards boss Adrian Lam insists he has full confidence in his squad being able to take the club to ‘the next level’ this season, despite a lack of deadline day transfer activity.

The Leopards began the week of the transfer deadline by completing a swap deal with fellow Super League outfit Castleford Tigers.

Jack Ashworth arrived on a permanent deal until the end of 2028, and mid-season Lazarus Vaalepu was sent on loan to The Jungle for what remains of 2026 following a slow start to life at Leigh.

A wealth of loan exits followed, and even a permanent departure in the shape of youngster Will Brough – with head coach Lam admitting there may be more business to be done regarding incomings before the deadline after Ashworth had arrived.

But those incomings never came to fruition, with one known target in the shape of Leopards cult hero Kai O’Donnell remaining in the NRL with North Queensland Cowboys, at least for now.

‘I think there is a group of men there that are good enough to take us to another level’

Friday night saw Leigh record the club’s biggest-ever Super League win, thumping Bradford Bulls 62-10 on home soil in a rampant ten-try display.

Asked the question of whether he had any disappointment about not completing any late transfer deals to bolster his squad post-match, Lam said: “It’s been an incredible year.

“Umyla Hanley got man-of-the-match last week (in the win at Leeds Rhinos), and Jenna Brooks said to him in the interview afterwards, ‘it’s your 12th game back’.

“I couldn’t believe he’d only played 12 games out of the 23, and that sort of resonated with me because Tesi (Niu) has missed the same amount on the other side. They’re two of the best centres, I believe, in the competition.

“We’ve got by without that at different times and the way we’ve rallied this year to get to where we are now has been incredible.”

The Leopards have reached the play-off semi-finals in each of the last two seasons, only to see their campaigns ended in ’24 and ’25 away against neighbours Wigan Warriors.

This time around, having swept aside Bradford on Friday night, Leigh are level on competition points with fourth-placed Wakefield after they lost their Round 24 clash at Wigan.

Striving for a top-four finish to earn a home tie in the first week of the play-offs, Lam’s side head to Huddersfield Giants next weekend before concluding their regular season campaign with back-to-back home games against St Helens and Wakefield.

The Papua New Guinean added: “The signing is done now (for the year), but I think there is a group of men there that are good enough to take us to another level, fingers crossed.

“Whatever that next level is for us this year, we’ll see.”