Leigh Leopards receive major injury boost ahead of Wakefield Trinity Challenge Cup tie

Leigh Leopards boss Adrian Lam has confirmed that Robbie Mulhern will return for Friday night’s Challenge Cup quarter-final against Wakefield Trinity, and has hailed the forward ahead of that tie.

Prop Mulhern has only been able to make three appearances so far this season, and hasn’t featured at all since being forced off just 25 minutes in against Catalans Dragons back on February 28 through what proved to be a calf tear.

In the month or so of action that the 30-year-old has missed, Leigh haven’t won any of their three Super League games, and were beaten 40-14 at home by Wakefield last Friday night.

But as the Leopards prepare to face Trinity again, this time at Belle Vue with a spot in the last four of the Challenge Cup up for grabs, he is back fit and available.

Leigh Leopards receive major injury boost ahead of Wakefield Trinity Challenge Cup tie

Mulhern has been a Leyther since the start of their 2023 Challenge Cup winning campaign, featuring 57 times in their colours to date. Friday night’s game will see him chalk up the milestone of 250 career appearances.

Speaking in Tuesday afternoon’s pre-match press conference, Leopards boss Lam detailed: “”It looks like Robbie is going to be fine to play. We’re pretty excited about that.

“I think if you want one player coming back into your squad at Leigh, it’s probably Robbie.

“Like I say, he’s larger than life in the sense of his presence within the group, he’s a great leader, and when we lost some of those senior players last year, Robbie is one that we kept and building the future on the back of him.

“He recently signed last year as well for an extended contract, so he’s an important part of the group. His actions probably lead the way rather than his words, which we’ve probably missed across the last few weeks.

“I thought we got dominated through the middle last week, so Robbie will help us there, but it’s not just up to Robbie to turn things around, it’s the whole group.

“His arrival back single handedly isn’t going to beat Wakefield, we understand we’ve got a lot of work to do, and we’ve prepared pretty well so far. We’ve got to make sure we deliver a little bit different than last week, but certainly his inclusion will help.

“He’s a larger than life personality within the group and a great leader, on and off the field. He’s been sorely missed, so his inclusion will be welcomed with open arms.

“That looks like it at the moment, but that’s okay. We hadn’t hoped for anybody else, it’s about the players who play and slightly changing their attitude and performance.”

‘Every team wants their best 13 starting, and best 17 every week. We haven’t had the opportunity to do that so far this year’

Leigh saw back-rower Frankie Halton return from his own injury lay-off last week in their Super League defeat to Wakefield.

Accordingly, Josh Charnley and Darnell McIntosh are the only two first-team players currently sidelined, and Lam was able to offer positive news on that front.

He explained: “The other ones are Josh Charnley and Darnell McIntosh, but they’re probably both back in the next fortnight.

“That tops off everyone really, and adding one or two players to that as we go into the next six weeks, then we’re close to where we need to be.

“Every team wants their best 13 starting, and best 17 every week.

“We haven’t had the opportunity to do that so far this year. We did this last year as well.

“Luckily it’s been a couple of early wins, but we’re working hard to try to build and maintain some consistency moving forward.”