Adrian Lam believes Hull FC’s former Leigh Leopards contingent will get a good reception on Thursday night despite ‘copying’ the Leythers’ style of play.
Signing the likes of Tom Briscoe, Ed Chamberlain, Zak Hardaker, and most significantly of all, John Asiata, Hull’s brand of rugby is, at least in Lam’s eyes, very similar to that of Leigh last year, and given it’s centred off Asiata from first receiver, it’s no surprise.
But Lam, into his fourth season as Leigh boss, understands that and holds no dramas. In fact, the Papua New Guinea-born head coach had plenty of positives to say about Thursday’s opposition, with the likes of Asiata and co. returning to Leigh Sports Village for the first time since leaving the club where they won the 2023 Challenge Cup in favour of a move to the Black and Whites.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Lam said: “They (Hull) have pinched a lot of our players and brought a lot of experience to them. They’re playing a nice style of rugby, and in the first quarter of the season, I thought they were right on.
“Once the season gets going, you’ve got to make sure you keep your consistency – they’ve been in and out in terms of consistency recently, but when they’re on, they’re a very difficult team to beat.
“They were unlucky last week not to win (at Leeds) – they played well enough to win, but more importantly for us, we’re coming off the back of a loss too (at Wigan), and it’s not ideal for us.”
As for Asiata, Lam continued: “I think he will (get a good reception). The fans are very supportive here, and they understand what John did for us while he was here – along with all the other players who were involved at that time. I also know that John has taken our style to them; you watch them, and a lot of the rugby they play is very similar to how we play, and that’s fine.
“They’ve got some really good individual players there. They’ve got a nice balance of senior players, and while the last six weeks or so haven’t been ideal, they’re not that far away.”
The likes of Hardaker will also make his first return to the Leopards’ den, with the veteran excelling in the back spot in recent weeks, something that doesn’t surprise Lam.
He explained: “Zak is just the ultimate competitor – his on-field competitiveness is as good as any in the game. He’s playing out of position at the moment in the back row, and he’s done a pretty good job.
“He’s one of those guys who still has a child-like mentality – when he crosses that white line, he’s going out there to have fun, and he’ll do whatever it takes to win. We’ve got to deal with him; he is a handful, and when he’s confident, he’s certainly a good player.
“I wanted to play him in the back row at Wigan, but we never got the chance. We did at Leigh last year; in the play-offs at Salford, he came off the bench, and he played like 70/75 minutes there and did a great job. He’s a rugby player, and he has that mentality of going out and having fun and doing whatever it takes to win. They’ve certainly got an asset in him.”
Leigh also have their fair share of ex-Hull players in their squad, with Brad Dwyer, Darnell McIntosh, and Ben McNamara set to play a part.
On McNamara, who is certainly growing as a player at Leigh, Lam said: “The times he has started for us seem to be against Hull, but he’s always done a reasonably good job. He loves being from there, and he’s got a big role to play for us.
“We’ve been working hard on Ben, and with the way that his game has been evolving, we’ve still got work to do, but we’re looking forward to him playing and starting against Hull.”
Lam has had a knack for unearthing more obscure talent at Leigh before watching other clubs come in and poach that talent. That poaching has worked in cases but failed in others, with Hull making a high-profile move for Lachlan Lam last year.
He added: “We’re just trying to get every single player better. That’s our role as coaches – to bring players here that have got potential and develop them.
“I think we’ve done that as well as, if not better than, any other club in the sense of bringing unknown players to us and then everyone else paying overs to get them out of our club to sign them.”