Everything Leigh Leopards coach Adrian Lam said after Wigan Warriors defeat

Leigh Leopards coach Adrian Lam met with the media in his post-match press conference following his side’s 38-0 defeat to Wigan Warriors in the Super League semi-finals.

Lam was asked about his side’s display, Wigan’s performance and his reflection on the Leopards’ 2024 campaign.

Here’s the review and rundown of everything that Lam said in the Leopards debrief.

Overall thoughts

“A bit of a car crash performance really. Frustrated in that sense, we haven’t been like that for the whole season. I know there were three late changes in the week in key positions and that probably didn’t help but I felt that we just didn’t give ourselves a chance.”

Was it a case of Wigan being too strong or Leigh having an off day, or a bit of both?

“Probably a bit of both. I thought they were outstanding and played finals rugby the way it should be played. They were awesome tonight but I felt we just errored too many times out of our own end and put pressure on ourselves and on the back of that came six-agains.

“I think the penalty count at half-time was 5-1 and it hasn’t been like that the whole season so when you give a team like Wigan that much possession in that end of the field – with the speed they’ve got – on the back of that, you will get punished easily.”

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Any reasons in particular for the uncharacteristic performance?

“I think the system we stuck to is pretty much the same as every week we’ve had and that’s something we’ll deliberate post-season. We played Salford who (basically) had a week off with resting so many players the week before against Wigan and that was really difficult. It’s hard to play a top two team when they’ve had a week off at home and even though we went through that difficult period in the first half, I feel our errors put us under pressure, six-agains and then our penalty count was 5-1 at half-time which doesn’t help.

“When we made those errors we were close to our line and Wigan have probably got speed that no other team has got and they can hurt you really quickly. I though if Ricky Leutele had thrown a dummy when Abbas Miski took the intercept and scored the try and kicked the goal, then we go in at 10-6 down and it’s a completely different beast and different game. We still had that belief at 10 (down) but I think it was a late try with two minutes to go that makes it 18-0 at half-time and they sort of took the wind out of our sails a little bit and then the error in the first tackle in the second half. It was just a repeat of the game, so we’ll take a look at that post-season.”

READ MORE: Everything Wigan Warriors coach Matt Peet said after Leigh Leopards win

At half-time, did you feel like there could be anything down to rescue it?

“Yeah absolutely. There’s been times when we have been down at half-time, at Salford, we were 12-0 down against Saints and we found a way to win in the second half and we have been really resilient with that all season but it seemed to be one game too far.

“But the quality team that Wigan are, if you do that, our completions were 60 per cent in the first half and 40 per cent in the second, so we were chasing the game in the second half, that’s what compounded the errors and mistakes – but you can’t win a Super League bottom four game with those statistics, let alone the most important game of the club’s history. We’ll learn a lot from that tonight and keep building and growing the way we have.”

A word on the 4,500 Leigh fans in the away end…

“Unbelievable. I think we’ve got the best fans in Super League and the most passionate, like our owner (Derek Beaumont), a little bit crazy but we love them.

“I think they kept turning up for us through that difficult time, we asked them to stick by us when things weren’t going good and we knew we had the belief and faith that we could turn it around. It’s just a reminder to everyone that even if things aren’t going good through the season, whether it’s two years ago, 10 years ago, last year, this year or next year, just keep faith with us because we’re working hard and the systems we have and the processes we have are good and that everything is going to be okay.

“There is going to be a lot of change at the end of the year, there’s going to see a lot of new faces, they’re going to say goodbye tonight to some players that we’ll never see again who have etched some memories in our minds that we will have forever. That’s the sad part about tonight, that it’s the last time that some of those players will play for us.”

It was a big second half of the season from the Leopards to reach the play-offs. Just your reflection on your 2024 campaign…

“I think I’ve learned a lot myself as a coach in a really difficult situation of what to do and there has certainly been some maturity on my behalf but, in regards to the group and the squad, the way we have stuck together through a really tough time has been monumental.

“I think it’s been unbelievable the way we have rallied together and the resilience we’ve shown when we’ve needed it most: and I think that would be the highlight of the year.

“Even though tonight, like I mentioned, was a nightmare I’ve just got to keep in mind how much we’ve developed as a group. Three years ago we won everything in the Championship. Two years ago we won the Challenge Cup and finished fifth and this year finishing fourth is a step in the right direction.

“We are heading in the right direction so we’ve got to be positive about this year and I think it is an incredible time for the town that they’ve had a team to support and cheer about, and with that, numbers have risen in our home ground attendances and that’s just a reflection of the team giving our fans something to live for every weekend.”

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