Leigh Leopards boss Adrian Lam makes ‘massive’ play-off admission following incredible season turnaround

Leigh Leopards are well and truly in the mix to make the play-offs: and head coach Adrian Lam has hailed the way his players have helped turn their season around.

The Leopards were languishing in the bottom three of the Super League table in the first half of the season, having won just one of their opening nine games in what was an injury-ravaged period for Lam’s side.

But they maintained their resilience and belief to turn things around in the second half of the campaign and will occupy a place in the top six come the end of this weekend with just three games remaining.

That achievement comes after beating Warrington Wolves 16-12 on Friday night, with that being Leigh’s eighth win in their last nine games.

RELATED: 6 conclusions from Leigh Leopards’ win over Warrington Wolves

Leigh Leopards boss Adrian Lam makes ‘massive’ play-off admission following incredible season turnaround

Lam’s side face Castleford away and both Hull KR and St Helens at home in their final three games of the regular campaign as they look to make the play-offs for the second year running.

“It’d be massive,” the Papua New Guinean said when asked about how big an achievement it would be to make the play-offs this year given their start to 2024.

“After nine games, I think we were one win out of nine. If you’d have told me then, ‘with three games to go, we’re going to slide you into the top six’, after the start we’d had, then we’d have probably taken it at that stage.

“We’re not finished yet, I still think we’ve got our best rugby ahead of us. Even though we won tonight (against Warrington), I thought we could’ve done a few things a little bit better so that’s what we’re striving for.

“We’re not resting on our laurels. I think we’ve just got to keep improving, because it’s a big picture.

“I’m very proud. Every week over the last 10 weeks has been a must-win for us. I’ve just seen we’re in the top six as we speak after tonight, and it’s hard fathom that we’re in (that top six) at the moment.

“The way the start of the season unfolded was really difficult, so to come away with a really strong win tonight was exactly what we needed: and just to keep the ball rolling.

“I think that’s eight wins out of nine now. We had a short turnaround from London and we hardly trained (in the week), so it was all about our mentality and just to give our absolute all.

“I thought we were really physical and we were up for it, so I’m really pleased with that.”

LRL RECOMMENDS: Warrington Wolves coach Sam Burgess labels Paul Vaughan red card against Leigh Leopards ’embarrassing’ and calls on game to stamp out trend

‘It’s in our hands now’

While Lam wanted to praise his side’s resilience and mentality for how they have handled the last two months of their turnaround, he insists they will stay grounded and just keep focusing on themselves in the final three games of the campaign as they look to reach the knockout stages of the competition, with a trip to Castleford up next on Friday.

“I’ve been around long enough to know that when you fall in love with yourself in rugby league, you get kicked up the backside, so none of that will happen, but it’s in our hands now,” Lam added.

“We’ve worked really hard to get to this point. We’re not going to accept anything less than the standards we’ve set over the second half of the season, so I think we’ve just got to make sure we keep our feet grounded and keep working hard.”

READ NEXT: Adrian Lam makes bold Papua New Guinea prediction as Kumuls set for star-studded squad