Adrian Lam gives star player’s injury update after Leigh Leopards ‘gamble’

Having sat out of Leigh’s win over Castleford Tigers last week, Moylan was a doubt leading into the clash against Wigan Warriors on Tuesday night due to a rib issue. Despite the concern, the full-back put his hand up to play and Lam took the opportunity to select him for the derby at the Brick Community Stadium.

It quickly became evident that Moylan was not fully fit, though, with the former Cronulla Sharks man making at least two defensive errors in the build up to Wigan tries. He looked a shadow of himself and as he pulled out of catches and missed tackles, the decision was made to pull him from the contest at half-time.

As such, the 33-year-old was left to watch the remainder of the game from the entrance of the Brick Community Stadium tunnel, with what appeared to be an ice pack under his shirt. Speaking after the rearranged fixture, Lam admitted the decision to play Moylan was a risk that backfired, with the head coach confirming he will sit out of this weekend’s round 21 fixture.

“He was 50-50 to play with some rib cartilage issue and it was his call to play in the end so we ran with that,” Lam said after the game, per Love Rugby League.

However, after about fifteen minutes, we realized it wasn’t working, so we had to hold onto that till halftime. It was a risk that didn’t end up paying off. We hung on until halftime because we wanted to see if he could get through that, but as time went on, it only grew worse.

He just wasn’t himself, and I’m not sure whether you could see him defending or carrying the ball. I felt a little sorry for him, but as a player, I’ve been there too. You know, you’re mentally tough and physically strong, but when the physical aspect of it gets in the way, it turns into a nightmare. That’s how it was tonight, we got

“He won’t play this weekend. We’ve had two short turnarounds to away teams which is difficult to do so at least on this short turnaround we’re going home on Sunday to play Hull FC and they’ve got their own injury worries, too. Matt probably won’t figure in that but he won’t be too far off that.”