Sam Burgess highlights 5 Leigh Leopards ‘threats’ including former team-mate
Warrington head coach Sam Burgess with the badges of the Wolves and Leigh Leopards
Warrington Wolves head coach Sam Burgess believes Round 8 opponents Leigh Leopards’ position on the ladder is a false one, highlighting five key threats that his side need to watch out for including a former South Sydney Rabbitohs team-mate.
The Leopards – who beat Warrington in pre-season – have since suffered a spate of serious injuries, winning only one of the six Super League games they’ve played to date in 2024.
Last week, Adrian Lam’s side were also knocked out of the Challenge Cup at Hull KR, making it six defeats in eight games across all competitions to date this year.
But Wire chief Burgess – who has led his team to five league wins in the first seven and seen them book a spot in the semi-finals of the cup – insists Leigh are no pushovers, and has fired a warning shot to his squad ahead of their meeting at the Halliwell Jones Stadium this afternoon.
Sam Burgess highlights 5 Leigh Leopards ‘threats’ including former team-mate
Highlighting five of the Leopards stars his side are likely to be up against, as well as the injured Edwin Ipape, Wolves boss Burgess said: “They’re a great team, I don’t think their record in the league serves them correctly.
“I think they are a better team than what their record says at the moment – six (defeats) and one (win) – so we’re treating them with the respect they deserve.
“They’ve got a number of threats, obviously Lokie (Lachlan Lam) is a great player. They’ve got some good, powerful back-rowers and obviously their middles, Tom Amone is a great player.
They’ve got a couple of guys out so let’s not ignore that, I think they miss (Robbie) Mulhern when he’s not playing, Ipape the hooker is dynamite.
“They’ve had a rough time with injuries, most clubs have though, we’ve not had an easy run with that stuff, so they’ve got threats.
“(Ricky) Leutele is a threat, we know what Brad Dwyer is about, so they’ve got plenty going for them.
“They throw the ball around, they’ve got dynamite strike, Lokie Lam, (Matt) Moylan can play and Leutele has got a bit about him so it’s another day to get better for us.”
Amongst the Leythers highlighted by Burgess by was former Rabbitohs colleague Amone, who has recently returned from an injury himself.
The powerhouse played in just one first-grade NRL game alongside Burgess – a win against Sydney Roosters in September 2019 – but is someone that the Wire chief has high praise for, adding: “Tom’s had a great career, he is a great player and I’m a big fan of him.
“He’s a great character off the field and he has done fantastically well over here. It was good to see him back last week, I thought he added something to Leigh.”
