Lam hails 'inspirational' group after sealing top-six spot

Leigh Leopards boss Adrian Lam has hailed his players as "inspirational" after they sealed qualification for the play-offs with a game to spare before their huge clash against Wakefield Trinity on Friday.

The Leopards' 48-10 demolition of St Helens meant they secured a spot in the top six for a fourth season running after their promotion back to Super League in 2022.

Going into their final match of the regular season campaign, Lam knows that a victory of 28 points or more would see them leapfrog Trinity on points difference and have the benefit of home advantage in the play-offs.

"I'm very pleased [to get into the top six] obviously," he told BBC Radio Manchester. "It's been a really difficult season for us.

"The way we've rallied from the first quarter of the season all the way through to now without key players has been unbelievable and quite inspirational from the group.

"A quarter of the way in, if you'd said we would finish in the top six with one game to go, I would have accepted that so [we're] locked in, and it just depends on the performance on Friday night [as to] whereabouts we finish.

"It's our fourth consecutive year in the play-offs - it's a happy place."

Lam is currently the second-longest serving coach in Super League having left Wigan Warriors to take over Leigh in November 2021.

He helped guide Leigh back to the top flight in his first season in charge as they beat Batley 44-12 in the Championship play-off final and then led his side to their first major trophy in 52 years with a golden point 17-16 victory against Hull KR in the Challenge Cup final the following August.

Leigh have consistently finished in the top five in all of their past three seasons and have had a strong run-in, winning 12 of their past 15 outings following a slow start by their recent standards.

The Leopards, like many clubs in the league, have had to deal with a number of injuries including to centre Tesi Niu during Magic Weekend as well as Keanan Brand and Bailey Hodgson who are all expected to be missing until the end of the play-offs.

A Grand Final appearance has so far eluded Lam and would signal his finest achievement yet as they go into the post-season shake-up in fine fettle.

But true to form the level-headed Lam is not getting carried away, and is instead focusing on his side's Friday night clash.

He said: "It's a tough one to be honest with you. As a coach, you've got to look at all scenarios including the win by 28 points, or the worst case scenario which is a loss.

"I think it would be disrespectful to think that we could play a team that's been one of the form teams of the season here and get that.

"For me, it's tackle by tackle, set by set, an 80 minutes performance in which we will need to play well, better than what we did last week, and get the win."