ADRIAN LAM has yet to name a captain for tomorrow night’s Super League opener against Wigan Warriors.
Last season, John Asiata was the Leopards’ skipper. However, with his departure to Hull FC, the question of who will lead Leigh at The Brick Community Stadium tomorrow night was posed to Lam in his pre-match press conference.
However, the decision will be made on the night: with Rob Mulhern, Lachlan Lam and Isaac Liu all in the frame.
“All four of our leaders are playing, I will make that decision in the dressing room,” Lam said.
“John Asiata was our captain last year and Lachie Lam and Robbie Mulhern also did a lot of that.
“Isaac Liu has been great for us too and it will be one of those three.”
The Leopards have had a large turnover of players once more ahead of the 2025 Super League season, with 12 new faces as well as a whole host of experience exiting such as Tom Amone, Kai O’Donnell and Asiata.
And Lam believes that expectations must be tempered, especially with letting his new recruits bed in.
“There our or five players making their Super League debuts with us so theres a little bit more to worry about than the history of not winning for so long at Wigan.
“There are nervous times around that because I know it takes time to get it right. It can take players up to six weeks to get themselves used to these conditions at this time of year.
“We’ve lost a lot of leaders and senior players that helped us win that Challenge Cup a few years ago and there has been a drop in that.
“We made a decision as a coach and organisation to change up the squad. We needed something different to take that step from fourth to move forward.
“That will take time. I want to go out and win every game for the first quarter of the season but I’m aware that probably won’t happen.
“We will probably be struggling more time than hitting our straps but that’s the way the sport works. We have had to reset everything.”
The Leopards successfully made the play-offs in 2024 despite a horrendous start to the campaign – and Lam has explained the reasoning for that.
“We lost our strength and conditioning coach on the first week of training. There were a lot of soft tissue injuries and injuries that ended up being long-term.
“We missed eight of our starting 13 for the first quarter of the season. We got that right in the end and we are trying to learn what we can do differently.”
One man definitely won’t play tomorrow night – and that’s Darnell McIntosh.
“Darnell McIntosh is the only one that is unavailable for Round One. He did his PCL at our summer camp in Lanzarote and will be out for a month.
“There have been a few niggles that are 50/50. Rob Mulhern, Edwin Ipape and Josh Charnley we need to make a call between now and game day.”
Lam also had some nice words for Wigan, with the Warriors the reigning Super League and Challenge Cup holders.
“They are leading the pack by a country mile on and off the field. They spend more than anyone else, their squad is really strong and gives them that extra bit of strength when they don’t make any changes.
“I think they are in the best position they can be. It’s a home game with a sold-out crowd, it’s a great way to kick off Super League 2025.”
