A drian Lam on Leigh selection conundrums, a welcome return, the injury latest, and Hull KR.
Leigh Leopards head coach Adrian Lam celebrates with the fans.
Leigh Leopards are preparing for a ‘big point’ of their Super League season with games against Hull KR and Hull FC to finish the month of May.
The Leythers, sitting seventh in the table and two points off the play-off positions, host the Robins on Saturday before another home game against the Black and Whites next Friday night.
Winning their last three games against the York Knights, Huddersfield Giants, and Catalans Dragons, Leigh are hoping to go four in a row against the champions, with the likes of David Armstrong back in the side following a lengthy ACL rehab after coming off the bench in Perpignan.
That, coinciding with the hoped-for return of Bailey Hodgson this week, could give the Leigh head coach a conundrum or two ahead of what promises to be a tasty clash at the Leigh Sports Village.
“The win against Hull KR was one of our best performances here last year,” Lam recalled. “It was in the sun, on a Saturday, I believe, and with the way that this season has been so far and the way that the ladder sits, it’s a really important game for us.
“They’ve got a lot on their minds, obviously, with the Cup, winning the semi-final last week and the final in a couple of weeks, but more importantly for us, it’s about trying to stay on that role.
“We’re three wins out of three now, or four out of five wins. We’ve got some players back as well. We’re still carrying a couple of niggly injuries and one or two are coming back into consideration, but I feel like this is a real big point of the season for us, especially with the two Hull teams back to back here at home.”
On the players coming back into the fold or set for bigger roles this week, Lam continued: “Davey Armstrong got 30-odd minutes at Catalans. He came on in the second half for Gaz O’Brien and he’s obviously in contention again there.
“Bailey Hodgson, we will give him right up until kick-off to be considered as well. He’ll be added to the squad this week and we’ll wait and see on him, but we’ve got our fingers crossed. He’s progressing really well.
“It makes our selections tougher but we haven’t had that headache all year, really, to be honest. We’ve still got Aaron Pene and Robbie Mulhern out. He’s still got a couple more weeks. Keenan Brand also has some swelling and some complications on his ankle, so he’s gone for further scans.
“Tesi (Niu) had a little bit of a tight hamstring and he’s just got to get through that. We’re in a good position as we speak. We’ve just got to make sure that the players are doing their job; we’ve done that over the last couple of weeks. We’re now back at home after a great trip to Catalans and a big support there with our fans, and we’re really excited about that.”
And on the challenge of Rovers, Lam added: “When you watch them play, you can see that they’re really connected as a group, and they work really hard for each other.
“I think that’s what the basis of their success has been on. It’ll be no different this weekend. They ground out a really tough win against Warrington last week, and no doubt that they’ll be up for this one as well.
“We realise the start of the game is really important for us and we need to play accordingly and just make sure that we’re at our absolute best as well to give ourselves the best chance of getting what we deserve.”