Adrian Lam coy on becoming long-term Wigan coach
Adrian Lam has played down the possibility of staying on as Wigan’s head coach beyond this season.
The Warriors announced last August that club legend Shaun Edwards would become their head coach on a three-year deal from 2020 once his commitments with Wales Rugby Union end after the 2019 World Cup.
However, Edwards has in recent weeks revealed that he hasn’t actually signed a contract with Wigan and the Warriors have now said they wouldn’t stand in his way should he want to take up an offer elsewhere.
When asked if he would be open to staying on as head coach in 2020, Lam replied: “I’m here for 12 months at the moment and I’m just focused on doing the best I possibly can at the moment and then moving home.
“I’ve heard that question a few times already and I’ve answered the same way each time. I don’t really want to think about that until it happens because we haven’t been winning, so all my energy was on that and the Salford game.
“We [coaching staff and players] haven’t talked about it at all to be honest.
“I know the club – Ian [Lenagan] and Kris [Radlinski] – have been working overtime just to get over that part and I’ve laid as low as I can through all that because the priority for me was just to make sure we got a win this week against Salford, so I haven’t really been involved with that.”
Wigan ended their five-game losing streak on Sunday as they beat Salford Red Devils 30-22 at the AJ Bell Stadium.
On how he has found the losing run, Lam added: “The way I’ve thought about it is that it is going to make me a better coach.
“When you get put in this position and you’re not winning, you find out about yourself pretty quickly.
“I’m living on my own, so I’ve been going home and staring at four walls and I go a bit mad, but my release has been going to coach these players and they’ve had a real positive attitude about them.
“They know we are still a long way from being at our best but there were some brilliant signs today and if we can keep on building positive blocks then it will be good for us. We need to win next week against Catalans to grow together.”
Lam revealed front-rower Tony Clubb suffered a medial injury and is set to face a couple of weeks on the treatment table.
