Leigh Leopards coach makes major recruitment admission as Nene Macdonald decision confirmed

Leigh Leopards coach Adrian Lam has confirmed that they are actively looking to bolster their squad: and even dropped a hint on the type of players they’re chasing, while confirming Nene Macdonald is not one of them.

The Leopards were one of only a handful of Super League clubs that went into 2025 with both cap and quota space.

Where the overseas quota is concerned, Matt Moylan announced his decision to retire in the off-season and Ben Condon’s move to the club fell through after a failed medical.

Fijian prop Ben Nakubuwai, who has been out of favour for the last 12 months or so, then departed the Leopards’ Den last week to head back Down Under having agreed a release from the remainder of his contract.

And as you’d expect, that departure has reignited talk of a potential new arrival or two in Leigh.

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Adrian Lam: ‘We’re in a golden position at the moment, and we’re pretty excited about that’

Amid Salford Red Devils’ plight, centre Nene Macdonald is believed to be available to purchase – and has been linked with a return to Leigh having previously donned their colours  in 2022 as helped Lam’s side to promotion from the Championship.

When Nakubuwai’s departure was confirmed, LoveRugbyLeague reported that links to Macdonald were wide of the mark.

And though Leopards boss Lam confirmed that, there is more positive news on the recruitment front for Leigh, who are pursuing forwards and half-backs.

Speaking after Sunday’s Challenge Cup win against Batley Bulldogs, the Papua New Guinean Leopards chief explained: “We’re in a golden position at the moment, and we’re pretty excited about that.

“We are in the market for one or two players, and we’ll keep working on that as we go along. We’re in the box seat.

“We’ve just got to make sure we keep our eyes open with the recruitment side of things, seeing where we can strengthen our side, and we’ve got our finger on the pulse with that at the moment.

“There have been some links with Nene Macdonald through the press, but we haven’t spoken to Nene.

“We love Nene for what he’s done for us, but he won’t be here next year. We’re really happy with our outside-backs here at the moment, so he’s not a player we’re looking at.

“(We want to strengthen the forward pack), possibly, yeah, and Gaz O’Brien has probably been one of the most in-form halves in the competition, but we’re aware that he can play full-back as well, so that (half-back) may be a position we are looking at as well.”

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