Leigh Leopards coach reveals injury boost as two stars in doubt ahead of Castleford Tigers clash

Leigh boss Adrian Lam has confirmed that Darnell McIntosh is likely to return against Castleford Tigers this weekend, but the Leopards will have to wait and see on the fitness of both Umyla Hanley and Keanan Brand. 

Utility back McIntosh has been sidelined since March 16 when he popped his A/C joint as he dived over for a try in Leigh’s Challenge Cup Fourth Round clash with Championship outfit Batley Bulldogs.

That was the 27-year-old’s first appearance of the campaign having suffered a Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL) injury on the final day of the Leopards’ pre-season training camp in Lanzarote back in January.

After injuring his shoulder, the recovery timeframe stated was around six weeks, but McIntosh is ahead of that, and is expected to return at The Jungle on Saturday evening.

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Leigh Leopards coach reveals injury boost as two stars in doubt ahead of Castleford Tigers clash

Leopards head coach Lam provided a full injury update ahead of that Round 7 clash during Wednesday afternoon’s pre-match press conference.

He detailed: “It’ll be a pretty similar squad with the addition of Darnell McIntosh, who looks like he could be in there.

“Darnell had an incredible off-season as one of our standout players.

“I was really looking forward to him combining with Umyla (Hanley) down that right-hand side with the way they trained in pre-season, but he suffered a PCL injury on the last day of our pre-season camp which damaged him for a while.

“I think he’ll come straight back in when he’s ready, and whether he comes in on the left or the right, we’ll make a decision on that.

“He’s a player that brings a bit of X-factor to us, he’s got a little bit more height and he’s a strong carrier. He’ll bring it (the backline) to the next level.”

Leigh’s only other long-term absentee is Josh Charnley, who hasn’t been able to feature since their Round 1 win at Wigan Warriors due to a knee issue.

Having stated that Charnley ‘has a chance’ of playing this weekend though, Lam revealed that all wasn’t positive on the injury front, with a couple of fresh concerns picked up shortly before the press conference began.

He explained: “There’s been a couple of niggling injuries picked up today in training to Umyla (Hanley) and Keanan (Brand), so we’ve got to get through to captain’s run and see how that settles.

“The squad of 17 isn’t settled as of today, we’ve got a bit of tinkering to do with that as we head into the weekend.”

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