Leigh Leopards head coach Adrian Lam has provided an injury update ahead of his side’s game against Catalans Dragons this weekend.
The Leopards are looking to bounce back on Saturday, after being nilled against Hull KR in the last round of Super League action.
They did, however, go four games without defeat previous to that, and seem to be in a good place at the moment, certainly compared to their nightmare-ish start to the campaign.
For the weekend, Adrian Lam revealed some names that could bolster the side after spells out: “I think a couple of players are in contention to be back this week. Matty Davis will be back in contention.
“There is also Gaz O’Brien back in contention, and we’re getting closer to the likes of Robbie Mulhern and John Asiata who will probably be closer to Leeds or Wigan Games.”
It seems, therefore, that Smith will be the first of three forwards to return to the side in the coming weeks, after the side has been decimated in early stages of the season to injury.
O’Brien may also prove a huge returnee – he’s been out since Round Seven, meaning new recruit Matt Moylan has been playing at fullback recently.
It might be challenging for O’Brien to regain his spot, though, as he’s excelled in his new role having previously playing in the halves.
Perhaps he is returning to stand-off, where he was a player for the Castleford Tigers and Ben McNamara was a player for Leigh.
But, with Zak Hardaker at full-back, Moylan was back in a standoff versus KR.Leigh Leopards, at least, benefit from having options, as they haven’t done so much this season.
When questioned more about Mulhern, Lam responded, “It’s probably four or five weeks instead of eight, because the calf tear came back at the lowest grade of that.”
That’s encouraging, and now we need to decide if he’s ready for Leeds or if we’ll wait until the international break, which gives us an additional two weeks to make sure.
“He is most likely more inclined to be
Mulhern seems to have come out of it relatively lucky, as the prop seems set to miss just two or three games
Meanwhile, club captain Asiata has only played once since an injury in Round Three against St Helens, and was again injured immediately after returning – in Round Nine, against Catalans.
The huge number of tickets sold by Leigh Leopards fans has caused the Catalan outfit to halt sales to away fans, over fears they’d lose their home advantage.
They’re set to have around 1,500 fans at the Stade Gilbert Brutus on Saturday.
Lam said: “Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Great publicity, but also great on our fans’ behalf. What an unbelievable achievement if we could get that many people there to travel over and support us.
We adore them so much because they have always been amazing. They will have a fantastic chance to go and show their support. Another, I believe, is the reason we should go there and perform well for them.
“It’ll be useful and a great afternoon if we can be hostile and turn it into a home game advantage.”
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