Leigh Leopards coach makes bold play-off claim after cementing top six spot

Leigh boss Adrian Lam believes they’ll rightly head into next week’s play-off tie at Salford Red Devils as underdogs, but insists the Leopards are capable of beating anyone in the competition on their day.

Lam’s side secured their spot in the top six in dramatic circumstances on Friday night, beating St Helens 18-12 on home soil in the final regular round game of the campaign to clinch 5th-place.

After a torrid, injury-riddled start to the season, the Leopards won 10 of their last 12 games to rise up the ladder and break into the play-off spots.

They will now travel to Salford next Friday night (September 27), taking on a Red Devils side that finished 4th.

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Leigh Leopards coach makes bold play-off claim after cementing top six spot

Had Leigh lost to Saints, the likelihood is that they’d have missed out on the top six altogether, and that run would have all been in vain.

But having seen his side hold their nerve to finish 5th for the second season running, Lam is excited about just how far his team could go this season.

The Papua New Guinean chief said: “For three months, from the halfway point of the season, had we slipped up once more, this game is null and void tonight.

“How incredible is that, to even give ourselves a chance? I’m not bothered who it is (in the play-offs).

“If we play at our best potential, we can beat anyone on our day. We’re not finished yet, we’ve still got a heartbeat.

“That heartbeat’s been going since Round 13 of the season. I remember saying at some point in that first half of the season that if we made the six from that point, it’d be one of the highlights of my career.

“That’s two years in a row now that we’ve finished 5th, so there’s an opportunity there. If we win next week, we’d finish 4th (in the competition), then it goes on and on. I’m pretty pleased.”

Leigh have faced Paul Rowley’s Red Devils three times this year, winning the most recent two – on home soil and at Magic Weekend – having been beaten 32-22 back in March at the Salford Community Stadium.

But he is embracing the ‘underdogs’ tag ahead of next Friday’s meeting, saying: “Salford will be confident at home, they’re a team that have been consistent all year, finishing in the top four.

“They’ve earned the right to play at home and they’ll feel that they’re favourites to win this. They probably should be.”

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