Leigh Leopards coach delivers defiant top-two verdict as chances assessed
Leigh Leopards head coach Adrian Lam
Leigh boss Adrian Lam insists his side are not out of the race to finish in the top two this season, and says the Leopards are ‘right where they want to be’.
The Leopards have never finished higher than fifth in Super League, the position they ended both 2023 and 2024 in.
They will remain fifth come the end of this weekend having beaten bottom club Salford Red Devils on Friday night but seen both Leeds Rhinos and St Helens win their games in Round 23.
If Wigan Warriors win on Sunday afternoon at home against Wakefield Trinity, the reigning Super League champions would move back second and on to 34 points, three ahead of Leigh.
Leigh Leopards coach delivers defiant top-two verdict as chances assessed
There are now just four games remaining, but the data suggests that Lam’s side have a better run-in than anyone in the competition, with both Castleford Tigers and Huddersfield Giants left to play at home on their fixture list.
After their win against Salford, the Papua New Guinean was asked how he views the ladder now and what Leigh’s ambitions are this term.
Lam said: “We’re still in the hunt (for the top two).
“What we’re in control of is the next four performances. We’ve got three games at home out of the four and Warrington away.
“There’s no reason why we can’t win all four of those, and if we do that, there is a chance statistically of being second or third with a home final, which is what the goal is.”
2023 saw Leigh fall at the first hurdle in the play-offs as they lost out away at Craven Park to Hull KR, who they had beaten earlier that year in the Challenge Cup final.
Last year, they then managed to topple Salford in their own backyard, but picked up a mass of injuries in that win and ended up getting torn apart at Wigan in the semi-finals.
With the club having never tasted a Super League play-off game on home soil to date, Lam continued: “Top four gets you a home final in that first week and that’s what we’ve been aiming for as a goal right from the start of the season.
“We’re right where we want to be and it’s in our hands.”
