My Ultimate Team: Adrian Lam’s best 13 from players he played with including Wigan Warriors, NRL icons

Leigh Leopards coach Adrian Lam is the next guest on Love Rugby League’s My Ultimate Team feature, selecting the greatest 1-13 of players he had the pleasure of playing alongside.

One of the finest players of his generation, Lam enjoyed a successful career as a player in both hemispheres with Sydney Roosters and Wigan Warriors, whilst representing Papua New Guinea and Queensland in the representative arena.

The 54-year-old went into coaching upon his playing retirement, having had head coaching roles with Papua New Guinea, Wigan and now Leigh.

And with so much experience in the game, Lam’s ultimate team is, as you’d expect, full of icons…

1. Darren Lockyer (Queensland)

Just his temperament when he was on the field… I think he was in control of every action that he had. He had this great ability to create space and tries. The balance he had was incredible, but his temperament was unbelievable.

2. Jason Robinson (Wigan)

Not the biggest player in the world but on his day was incredible. Just his footwork and his acceleration off the mark could beat any player at any time. He scored some big tries in a lot of the matches that he played and was just aggressive and I loved that about him.

3. Gary Connolly (Wigan)

I played with Gary at Wigan obviously and Gary was a player who could just make something happen every single time. Just his balance, I think that was his biggest trait. He was a bit cruisy at times, but he had X factor when he had the ball. He was one of the best players I ever played with.

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4. Matt Sing (Sydney Roosters)

Matty was probably a better winger but I wanted to try to fit him in because when I played at the Roosters – and Queensland – Matty was brilliant with his work rate but Matty also had the ability to stop tries. The amount of times that it looked like it was going to be a try but Matt would pull something out the bag. His speed was unbelievable, had great acceleration and one of those players that would just turn up and support you and score tries.

5. Wendell Sailor (Queensland)

Wendell Sailor was pretty much the opposite style of player to Jason Robinson. He was a big unit. Wendell’s work rate was incredible, he was a strong body that could break tackles and the amount of full length tries he scored in his time was incredible as well.

6. Brad Fittler (Sydney Roosters)

Brad played outside of me at the Roosters and just his ability to turn games when it counted most.. A great leader but a leader more by actions rather than voice. The older he got, the better he was on the field. He was an inspiration to everyone.

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7. Andrew Walker (Sydney Roosters)

Andrew was an Indigenous player that I played with for the Roosters. Probably the most talented player that I played with. He was a dual-code international with Australia in rugby league and rugby union, and his kicking game and the way that he had the ball on a string was unbelievable. He could kick 40-20s, he could reverse kick the ball both ways, but just as a player, he’d break the first defender every time and break the line so many times and create opportunities for everyone else.

8. Bryan Fletcher (Sydney Roosters)

I’ve played with so many good front-rowers but I’ll go with Bryan because he had such an influence on me as a player. I actually got him into the Roosters team, he was playing reserve-grade at Bondi and I watched him and told the coach Phil Gould that I thought he needed a go to have a crack in first-grade. He was in the first team squad but he was playing games for the reserves and he said he was working as a plumber at the time, so I had a conversation with Phil Gould who got him in there in the end. The way he turned into a professional front-rower and second-rower was unbelievable. He probably had the best offload in the game, could break the line, very tough, aggressive in defence, but was very creative and skilful with his hands as well.

9. Terry Newton (Wigan)

The best player I’ve ever played with. I played with him at Wigan and won the Challenge Cup with him there. Just an absolute beast. I loved his aggressiveness, I think everyone we played against was scared of him. His ability to run out of dummy half with speed, skill and power – he just had everything.

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10. Gary Larson (Queensland)

Gary was pretty a pretty straight forward player, I played with him in Origin and I just loved his leadership that he brought. He certainly taught me a lot of things, he was very simple in the way he went about things and he was another player who had a really good temperament. He was as tough as anything and just never stopped working. Every time I turned around he was always doing the little jobs that no-one else wanted to do, so I was very grateful to play with him in State of Origin.

11. Gorden Tallis (Queensland)

I played with Gorden in Origin a few times. He was one of those players that just had that fear factor about him – a big unit, powerful, aggressive and had a ‘take no prisoners’ sort of mentality. He was also skilful with the ball.

12. Andy Farrell (Wigan)

Andy was the 13 when I was at Wigan, but I just remember playing some games with him thinking ‘you’re an absolute beast’. He could pass under pressure, was the ultimate competitor and was very smart. He was also a sharpshooter at goal-kicking, every time we scored a try he’d never miss the two. I learned a lot from him as a leader and captain of Wigan.

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13. Jason Smith (Queensland)

A player that I played with in Origin, Jason could probably play almost any position on the field but he was one of those players that was smarter than everyone else, could read what play was going to happen and was creative and very skilful. Just his ability to find space was probably his biggest strength.

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