Leigh Leopards owner Derek Beaumont makes bold double claim ahead of 2025 campaign

Leigh owner Derek Beaumont insists he believes the Leopards can lift the Challenge Cup again this year as well as beating world champions Wigan Warriors in Round 1, urging Adrian Lam’s squad to buy into those beliefs.

The Leopards unforgettably lifted the Challenge Cup in 2023 with Lachlan Lam kicking the winning drop goal against Hull KR in Golden Point extra time under the Wembley arch.

With that their first season back in Super League, Leigh have since gone on to embark on back-to-back top-flight play-off campaigns, losing out in the semi-finals last term to Wigan.

Having been knocked out of the Challenge Cup by Hull KR at the quarter-final stage last April, the Leopards were well beaten in that play-off semi-final in October – losing out 38-0.

The Warriors went on to beat KR at Old Trafford to round off a year which saw them lift all four major honours on offer – and are the favourites to win the Super League title again in 2025.

But Beaumont believes both cup glory and a win against Wigan on February 13 are realistic targets for Lam and co.

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Leigh Leopards owner Derek Beaumont makes bold double claim ahead of 2025 campaign

Beaumont, the Leopards staff and squad have spent the last week in Lanzarote, heading to the same venue for their pre-season warm weather training camp for the third year in a row.

And speaking to LeopardsTV, the 53-year-old said: “I think it’s the pinnacle of it. This here is where we define ourselves.

“It’s pointless having a set of rules or a culture in place that people don’t want to buy into or agree to.

“They set those standards themselves… we can have our expectations and we expect them to have higher ones.

“Do I want to win the Challenge Cup this year? 100%. Do I think we can win the Challenge Cup this year? 100% I believe we can.

“Do I think we can go to Wigan in Round 1 and win? 100% I do.

“I think we’ve just got a special group of people, we’ve got people who care and want to work together.”

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‘It’s about belief in yourself… everybody believes in each other’s ability’

Despite going down so heavily in that play-off semi-final at Wigan, being in that game represents a new record for the club 9n terms of how close they’ve come to the ultimate glory in Super League.

Never before have the Leopards reached a Super League semi-final, and the aim now is to at least repeat the feat with a group that involves plenty of new faces following some heavy off-season recruitment.

Beaumont continued: “We’re under no illusions that every other club is doing something similar and saying similar things, and why shouldn’t they?

“It’s about belief in yourself, so I’ve got to believe right from the top, our fans have got to believe and more importantly than anybody, our players have got to believe.

“They’ve got to believe in themselves and the person at the side of them, (the person) behind them and (the person) in front of them.

“Everybody believes in each other’s ability. I look at this camp, and the very first session without a shadow of a doubt was far better than the last session I saw last time I was here (in 2024).

“We’ve elevated massively and I can’t wait to see how we finish.”

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