Leigh Leopards coach drops major recruitment hint as Tom Amone’s Hull KR move addressed

Leigh boss Adrian Lam insists that the Leopards are ‘not far from getting someone over the line’ in the recruitment market having passed up on the opportunity to re-sign Tom Amone.

Amone made 87 appearances for Leigh between 2022 and 2024, and when news of him becoming unsettled in the NRL at Canterbury Bulldogs emerged a few weeks ago, Lam said he’d had discussions with the prop.

A saga ensued, with numerous Super League clubs expressing an interest in signing the 28-year-old, including Warrington Wolves.

But it was Hull KR that ultimately won the race, snapping him up on a three-year deal from 2026 and playing their part in arranging a deal for Amone until the end of the current season at Castleford Tigers.

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Leigh Leopards boss Adrian Lam: ‘We’re not far from getting someone over the line’

Leigh have space in both their salary cap and overseas quota, so many expected they’d get a deal to take Amone back to the Leopards’ Den over the line.

But as he addressed why that didn’t happen in his press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Leopards boss Lam dropped a hint that a new arrival may not be far away at all.

He said: “What Tom has done for us, I’ll be forever grateful as a coach in regards to that Challenge Cup and it’s a moment that group will forever have in their hearts with our fans.

“Our fans have a real close connection with Tom because of that and they were hoping for it to happen but sometimes things don’t work out.

“I talk with Tom regularly and he did tell me that he was maybe looking to head over to Super League a couple of weeks ago, so I said we would take a look if that was the case.

“But at the same time, we were speaking to three or four other players in a similar position. Collectively, as a group, we have chosen to head in a different direction and it’s as simple as that.

“Congratulations to Tom for getting a great deal and he will always be welcome back here.

“We’re not far from getting someone over the line. It’s happening every day on a 24-hour basis and Chris Chester (Head of Rugby) is working really hard on certain players.”

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‘You have to choose the right person – are we looking for youth or experience?’

Lam’s side take on Warrington Wolves on Saturday afternoon as part of Super League’s ‘Rivals Round’, with those two sides to meet again next month in the Challenge Cup semi-finals.

The Papua New Guinean continued: “When we take a look at recruitment and retention, we identify two things: any players that are available that we feel are not quite there yet and those that we can bring on like Tom Amone.

“He had played only a handful of NRL games and came off the bench for the first year in the Championship until we got an injury to a front-rower.

“We developed Tom to the level he has got to and I think Hull KR can probably thank us for that in the amount of work we’ve done with him.

“It didn’t work for him in the NRL and he has come back but I think we do a good job on finding the next talent or a senior player with experience.

“It is those key moments you have to choose the right person – are we looking for youth or experience? That’s where we are at as a club.”

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