Leigh Leopards boss Adrian Lam reveals fresh injury concern as off-season recruit’s debut confirmed

Leigh Leopards boss Adrian Lam has confirmed that they may still be without star man David Armstrong for Thursday night’s trip to Hull FC, where off-season signing Andrew Badrock will make his Super League debut.

Armstrong – who joined Leigh from NRL side Newcastle Knights ahead of 2025 – missed last week’s 34-6 victory at home against Catalans Dragons through illness.

The full-back had come close to withdrawing from Lam’s squad the week before as the Leopards beat Huddersfield Giants at the Leopards’ Den.

Badrock meanwhile joined Leigh from Swinton Lions in the off-season, and has donned a Leopards shirt in the Challenge Cup against Workington Town, but not featured in Super League so far.

Leigh Leopards boss reveals fresh injury concern as off-season recruit’s debut confirmed

Armstrong has been included in Lam’s initial 21-man squad for the trip to Hull, but is one of a number of concerns.

Robbie Mulhern misses out with a calf injury which he suffered against Catalans.

Lam – speaking in Wednesday’s pre-match press conference – detailed: “Davey hasn’t trained with us this week at all, so we’re going to give him right up until kick-off to see whether he’s fit or not.

“It’s just illness – diarrhoea and vomiting and losing weight. It’s gone through the club, there’s probably four or five players that have had that in the last three weeks.

“We’re trying to manage that issue, and I assume that a lot of clubs are having a similar issue because of the bug that’s been going around.

“He hasn’t trained all week, so we’ll make that decision (on whether he plays) on gameday. Today, he’s up and about and back in the return to training stuff.

“With Robbie, we got a scan on that and it’s precautionary at the moment, but we’re not going to play him this week.

“We’ll wait and see what happens with that, the length of (his spell on sidelines) is just unknown at the moment.

“We’ll power on with the other guys, and there are guys like Andrew Badrock will probably get an opportunity this week.

“Badrock is someone we’ve watched very carefully over the last 18 months, and I’m really excited to watch him develop.

“He’ll play on Thursday either way, he’ll be in the 17. I had that conversation with him, and the players were excited with him around the changing room – it’s well deserved.”

Full injury update provided by Adrian Lam

There is more positive news on the injury front for Leigh, who saw Alec Tuitavake forced off against Catalans with an ankle sprain.

AJ Towse and Umyla Hanley both also required treatment, but all three have recovered well, as Lam explained: “(Alec) Tuitavake will be okay and (AJ) Towse will be too.

“Umyla just has a bit of a strain on his knee, nothing too much more than that. He’s the ultimate competitor and leaves nothing in the tank, so he just gassed himself out. He’ll be ready to go.”

Elsewhere, Darnell McIntosh has been named in the 21-man squad having not featured so far this season after suffering a Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL) injury during the Leopards’ pre-season camp in Lanzarote.

Lam said: “With Darnell, there were some questions over Umyla and Davey Armstrong this week, so we just needed that extra outside-back in the 21.

“Darnell’s target was to be right for the Challenge Cup game against Batley, but we’ve just brought that forward (by a week).

“The chances of him playing are highly unlikely, but if anything happens in the warm-up to any of the boys, then he might have a chance.

“He’s right on track as to where he needs to be and we’re grateful to have him back in the fold.”