Leigh Leopards receive huge double injury boost ahead of St Helens clash

Leigh Leopards will welcome back both Isaac Liu and Aaron Pene for Friday night’s trip to St Helens, but Umyla Hanley is expected to be absent oncemore.

The Leopards won their Super League opener against Leeds last weekend, beating the Rhinos 26-14 on home soil.

An influential member of their forward pack, veteran Liu was among a handful of absentees having not featured in either their pre-season defeat at Warrington Wolves or Challenge Cup Third Round victory at North Wales Crusaders.

The same can be said for prop Pene, who has struggled with injury throughout his time at Leigh so far, while Hanley picked up an A/C joint issue during the friendly at Warrington.

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Leigh Leopards receive huge double injury boost ahead of St Helens clash

Speaking during Tuesday afternoon’s pre-match press conference ahead of the trip to St Helens, Leopards head coach Lam provided a comprehensive injury update.

He said: “Everyone got through the game (against Leeds) pretty good, there are a couple of niggly injuries.

“Because it was big minutes and the start of the season, it’s always high intensity, (Jack) Hughes and (Frankie) Halton are the ones really that are carrying a bit of a niggly into this one.

“I think they’ll be alright to go, they should be fine, but they pulled out of training today.

“We’ve still got a couple of days to go until matchday. They’ll be included in the squad and then we’ll see.

“We’ll probably add Isaac Liu and Aaron Pene (to the 21) on top of what we had last week.

“It’s on a week-to-week basis with him (Hanley). Whether he’s in the 21 this week, he’ll be there or thereabouts.

“I don’t want to play Umyla until he’s 80% as opposed to 60%, really. He’s doing okay, but slowly, slowly.”

Elsewhere, it was confirmed towards the back end of pre-season that Leigh full-back David Armstrong had suffered a setback in his recovery from last year’s ACL injury.

Armstrong, who was seen on the field with the squad pre-match last Friday night before the game against Leeds, is expected to be back come April.

Lam detailed: “Davey Armstrong’s back on the field now running at 100% as well, so that’s going to be another headache at some stage, but they’re all good headaches to have.

“He’s still around Round 8 to 10, and there’s no rush for him at the moment. The current full-back in Bailey Hodgson is doing an amazing job.

“But in regards to Davey Armstrong, we saw what he did last year and he’s put on about eight kilograms since he played last year. That will help his resilience here.

“He’s got a long way to go but seeing him out on the field was an awesome sight and a few of the boys were cheering him on. He’s a popular member of the group, we’ve missed him.”