Adrian Lam’s five-word response to son Lachlan’s shock Super League Dream Team omission
Leigh Leopards star Lachlan Lam speaks to dad and head coach Adrian following a game in 2025
‘What more can he do?!’
That was the reaction of Leigh head coach Adrian Lam to son and star Leopards half-back Lachlan’s omission from this year’s Super League Dream Team.
Lam junior registered 41 assists across the 27 ‘regular’ rounds of the campaign this year, which is the second-highest total anyone has ever achieved in the competition’s history.
Only Luke Gale claimed – with 49 – more as he scooped the Man of Steel award in 2017, though he had three more games to rack up the eight extra assists he recorded in a Castleford Tigers shirt that year en-route to the Grand Final.
But despite his stellar season this term, Lachlan was excluded from the Dream Team: with Hull KR’s Mikey Lewis and Leeds Rhinos’ Jake Connor chosen in the halves instead.
‘What more can he do?!’
Having ended the season third, with that their highest-ever Super League finish, Leigh did get one man in the Dream Team in the shape of Umyla Hanley.
But head coach Lam admitted he had expected more, as he told LoveRugbyLeague at Monday’s Dream Team event in Leeds.
The 55-year-old said: “I was hoping for three of four, I thought Lokie deserved a mention.
“I’d never have a go at the players that have made the cut, they’ve made it because they’ve earned it: but I felt Lokie could have been a part of it.
“The team, when I look at a Dream Team, it’s one filled with players that have done exceptional things over the years.
“To lead try assists, what more can he do?!
“There’s a try-scorer, of course, but every try-scorer needs to be assisted.”
2023 saw Leigh earn five spots in the Dream Team, with playmaker Lachlan among that quintet. They were then overlooked entirely last year after finishing fifth for the second year spin.
After this year’s third-place finish, the Leopards will host Wakefield Trinity in the play-off eliminators on Friday night, a game which will bring the club’s first-ever home tie in the Super League play-offs.
Lam senior continued: “I think he (Lachlan) had earned selection, but he’s pretty level-headed and he won’t be too concerned about it.
“But I do think most people will have the same opinion (that he should have been in the Dream Team).
“Owen Trout has been a shining light for Super League this year in the middle too, and he can also double up as a back-rower.
“And probably Tesi Niu, Umyla’s partner in the centres, he’s had a really good year as well.”
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