EVEN before they secured Leigh’s highest Super League finish and first home play-off, coach Adrian Lam and his son and captain Lachlan were feeling proud.
And not because Lachlan, 27, has a competition-leading 40 try assists this season.
“He’s just become a dad,” 55-year-old Lam told Sky Sports after a 28-10 win over St Helens at Leigh Sports Village.
“I’m pretty excited about it. It’s a special moment. It’s a first for Lachy as well. Luleiya, a little baby girl … we’ve very proud.
“He lives next door to me so we get to see her as often as we can.”
Lam junior said the players were aiming to “prove ourselves right, not others wrong”
It was a tight match for an hour but the Leopards put their feet down in the final period, with tries to Edwin Ipape – earlier sent to the sin bin for a high shot on Daryl Clark – and Owen Trout securing a convincing win.
That’s three losses in a row for former world champions St Helens.
“Frustrating, disappointing but it’s the reality of where we are at this point in time,” said coach Paul Wellens.
“Quite clearly, if you look at the last three results, we’re not where we need to be if we want to be successful this year.”
The match was notable for winger Kyle Feldt taking a spectacular dive after being brushed by an outstretched defender’s arm – an incident which quickly went viral.
LEIGH 28 (Badrock Brand Hughes Ipape Trout tries O’Brien 3 Hodgson goals) beat ST HELENS 10 (Feldt Robertson tries Percival goal) at Leigh Sports Village.
Teams:
LEIGH: Bailey Hodgson; Keenan Brand, Andrew Badrock, Umyla Hanley, Josh Charnley; Gareth O’Brien, Lachlan Lam; Owen Trout, Edwin Ipape, Robbie Mulhern, Frankie Halton, Jack Hughes, Isaac Liu. Res: Aaron Pene, Joe Ofahengaue, Matt Davis, Brad Dwyer. 18th man: Alex Tuitavake.
SAINTS: Tristan Sailor; Kyle Feldt, Harry Robertson, Mark Percival, Deon Cross; Jack Welsby, Mose Mbye; Alex Walmsley, Daryl Clark, Matty Lees, Curtis Sironen, Matt Whitley, Joe Batchelor. Res: Jonny Lomax (c), James Bell, Agnatius Paasi, George Delaney. 18th man: Jon Bennison.
Referee: Liam Moore