‘One of the first players I signed’ – Adrian Lam praises in-form Leigh back

Leigh coach Adrian Lam praised star man Gareth O’Brien, with the full-back playing an influential role in Leigh’s impressive start to the season.

O’Brien played in 12 of Leigh’s 13 games in Super League this season, with the Leopards sitting in fifth after an impressive start to life back in the top flight.

The 31-year-old has scored three tries and provided nine assists so far, and earned praise from his coach after their 30-12 win over Warrington on Friday night.

“He’s one of the first players I signed when we were getting closer to promotion from the Championship,” Lam said.

“I love the way he plays. He is Mr calm, cool and collected as a person as well which helps in the big games, so he has played a real big part of where we are at the moment.”

The Leopards are the form team in Super League at the moment, having won their last six matches in all competitions.

“We’ve just been under the radar for a couple of weeks so we’ll just remain under the radar if thats okay,” Lam said with a smile when asked about their rich vein of form.

“I think that’s six wins in a row now but it’s building, we’ve just got to keep our feet grounded now.

“I’ve been around for too long to know that things can change quickly if you get ahead ahead of yourself so we’ve just got to make sure that we keep working hard for each other.”

Adrian Lam proud of Leigh’s win over Warrington

The Leopards put in an impressive display on Friday night to beat league leaders Warrington 30-12 in front of an 8,000-strong crowd at the Leigh Sports Village.

Speaking after the game, Lam said: “There was a semi-final feel to it I thought and I’m just pleased for the whole town.

“No supporters left the ground for 15 minutes after the game, the North Stand were still there long after the full-time siren so its giving something for our fans to look forward to.

“It’s a great feeling. They (Warrington) are top of the table at the moment and when you beat anyone, especially at the top, you’ve got to look at what you’ve done well and enjoy the moment.

“It turns really quickly, we’ve just got to enjoy tonight, I thought the effort everyone put in was outstanding. You could see they are connected as a team, so that certainly helps.

“I think we’ve got a lot of improvement left in us to be honest. We’ve got the smallest squad in Super League – I think we’ve still got to add to that – I’ve been quite vocal about that, we’ve got to keep our feet grounded.”

Next up for Leigh is a clash with Wakefield at Magic Weekend in Newcastle on Sunday, 12pm kick-off.

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