Leigh Leopards coach reveals major Tesi Niu injury blow ahead of Warrington Wolves clash
Tesi Niu is swarmed by his Leigh Leopards team-mates as he celebrates a try in 2025
Ahead of Saturday afternoon’s clash with Warrington Wolves, Leigh Leopards boss Adrian Lam has revealed centre Tesi Niu will be out for at least the next four weeks with a pectoral tear.
Having joined Leigh ahead of 2025 on a three-year deal, Niu has enjoyed a sterling start to life as a Leopard, scoring six tries in his first 10 appearances across all competitions.
The three-time Tonga international played another starring role in last weekend’s 20-6 win at Castleford Tigers, combining with Lachlan Lam to execute a try-saver late on at The Jungle.
But he will now be sidelined for a considerable chunk of time, with the potential of missing next month’s Challenge Cup semi-final against Warrington.
Leigh Leopards coach reveals major Tesi Niu injury blow ahead of Warrington Wolves clash
With the two side’s meeting at the Leigh Sports Village this weekend as part of Super League’s ‘Rivals Round’, Leigh boss Lam held his pre-match press conference on Wednesday afternoon and delivered a full injury update.
He detailed: “Tesi Niu is injured for us now and he could be out for four-to-six weeks.
“It’s a pec tear. It’s not ideal, but it’s very similar to what Ethan O’Neill had a few weeks ago. It’s one of those, where he can still keep his load with his running, but he certainly can’t get that in a position to defend.
“That’s long-term, alongside Umyla Hanley, who is also out for four-to-six weeks (with a torn quad).
“He (Niu) picked it up right towards the end (of the Castleford game). Not many people knew, but he was ill throughout all of last week and nearly pulled out of the game against Castleford. He played and did a really good job for us.
“He’s getting better and is one of our outstanding players, but right towards the end when I was about to replace him with 15 minutes to go, he got that injury. It’s not ideal for us, but we’ll power on.”
There could be some positive news on the injury front for the Leopards heading into Saturday’s meeting with Warrington though in the shape of both back-rower O’Neill and winger Josh Charnley.
O’Neill missed the Cas game, while Charnley has been absent since Leigh’s win at Wigan Warriors in Round 1 through a pretty serious knee problem.
Lam said: “We’ll give Ethan right up until kick-off to be right. He should be, he’s just got to get through some contact. We’re pretty confident with that.
“Josh Charnley, again, we’ll give him up to kick-off. That’ll be ideal if he’ right, because then that’ll be seamless moving him into the left side there with Bailey Hodgson who will probably go to left centre. But we’ll wait to see how that pans out.”
