Leigh Leopards v Leeds Rhinos - Round 1 Super League 2026

 

If Adrian Lam invites you over for Poker night, I would recommend that you politely decline. A week on from the 4th Round of the Challenge Cup, when Lammy stated that he only had 19 players available to choose from. The injured players have risen one by one like Lazarus, to create an almost 1st choice 21 man squad for the first game of the season. At first look it is an almost complete consecutive numbers down to about 19. Missing is the most obvious David Armstrong at Full-back, but Leigh fans have grown used to seeing Bailey Hodgson fill in that role. The mysterious Issac Liu returns, some believe he has been out of the country and only returned today. The Iceman is a welcome return if he is match fit, this will push the attack out +1. Ipape-Liu-Cook-Lam and suddenly the focus is on the edges. At centre Umyla Hanley has been named. The 2025 Dream Team member was expected to be out for 4 weeks, but instead he is named after only one week off.

Matt Davis and Liam Horne return to the squad after injuries. Davis was expected to return after receiving stiches at the Warrington friendly, and Horne has served his HIA protocol after being dazed and confused in the same game. Question marks still remain over Mulhern, Liu and Hanley, and it is not beyond Lammy to add them into the 21 man squad, just to give Brad Arthur something to think about.

1. Bailey Hodgson
2. Keanan Brand
3. Umyla Hanley
4. Tesi Niu
5. Josh Charnley
6. Adam Cook
7. Lochlan Lam
8. Joe Ofahengaue
9. Edwin Ipape
10. Owen Trout
11. Frankie Halton
12. Jacob Alick-Wiencke
13. Issac Liu
14. Liam Horne
15. Robbie Mulhern
16. Andrew Badrock
17. Matt Davis
18. Jack Hughes

Brad Arthur already has plenty to think about. Top of the pops, is reigning Man-of-Steel, Jake Connor, who took a knock to his knee in training, and is expected to just miss one game. prop forward Mikolaj Oledzki, who picked up a rib injury in Saturday's Challenge Cup tie at Widnes Vikings. Elsewhere, Cameron Smith is also absent after picking up a knock against Widnes. Middle forwards Keenan Palasaia and Jeremiah Mata'utia remain sidelined, while outside backs Ash Handley and Maika Sivo are still out, with long-term absentees Alfie Edgell and Max Simpson missing.

I questioned whether the Leeds squad had enough depth to it, and already we are looking at 5 players who do not currently have squad numbers. Make your own call, but the Rhinos look like a patched up side at the start of the season, even before a huge game in Las Vegas for round 3.

Crazy News Day

 

Rebuild for 2027

When Leigh builds a good team, the foundations invariably get removed from underneath them. 2024 witnessed the disbanding of the Challenge Cup-winning team, with the departures of Asiata, Amone and O'Donnell. 2026 will see the pack decimated by Mulhern and Trout leaving for new adventures. Owen Trout electing to move to the Cronula Sharks is a bit easier to understand than Robbie Mulhern choosing to go to Castleford. Good luck Owen you deserve your chance in the NRL.

The Leopards, on the other hand, are left trying to find British props in a competitive Super League market. The overseas quota space will need to be filled by a dynamic Prop, ready to come straight into the starting 13. Lammy's focus needs to switch to the remaining players who are out of contract at the end of the season. Umyla Hanley was the success story, but losing Mulhern and Trout makes it imperative that Bailey Hodgson remains at the club. As discussed yesterday, there are questions over Issac Liu Leopards are Massive: Where is Issac Liu?

Leigh Leopards are Underdogs!

Predictions from the pundits and journalist time. With the Super League launch set for kick-off on Thursday, it is compulsory to make predictions about how the upcoming season will pan out. In essence, most people are of the opinion that the top 6 is between 9 different clubs. It is, of course, guesswork and not real analysis as for were the teams will finally settle. The betting odds for the top 4 are as follows:

• 1st Place: Wigan Warriors – 2/1
• 2nd Place: Hull KR – 11/5
• 3rd Place: Leeds Rhinos – 11/2
• 4th Place: St Helens – 7/1

Picking Wigan, Saints and Leeds would appear on any prediction list from the last 30 years. In many ways, it is lazy punditry. Hull KR, of course, must be in the reckoning having managed the incredible feat of attaining the treble. 

In 2022, St Helens won their fourth final in a row, but the team has been in decline since. 2023 saw them finish in 3rd on the same points as Wigan and Catalans. In 2024, they only just managed to squeeze into the play-offs on the same points as Catalans Dragons, who finished 7th. St Helens were 12 points off 2nd place Hull KR. The Saints won only 15 games out of 27, far below the expectations of their fans. 2025 was another disappointing season with a slightly more acceptable 17 wins out of 27 games. A change of coach and a large-scale recruitment (for St Helens), and now everybody expects them to be winners again. Saints have recruited well in Klemmer and Hastings, but have lost the rock of the team with the departure of Morgan Knowles. The team are expected to attack from any position, but in the last few years, the Saints have relied on defence. Changing tack will come with it's own dangers, and somebody is going to have to make up for the 40+ tackles Knowles would make in a game. The biggest issues with St Helens in the last few years are a lack of a cutting edge in attack and the lack of a settled spine. Lomax is still at the club, but he may be an unsettling influence on the team. Alex Walmsley and Mark Percival are likely to be on the wane. Not surprisingly, Percival has been offered to other clubs to keep out of the way. Welsby appears to be the chosen Full-back but last season he was well below his usual high standard. The Ashes highlighted a player struggling mentally and physically. Tristan Sailor is not a winger or a stand-off. His only major skill appears to be blistering pace. He offers very little in defence, and teams will target his channel. Jackson Hastings will be the lightning rod for the team, but after a number of years back in the NRL, he is not the player he once was. There is talent throughout this squad, but there are also weaknesses. They will probably relish piling the points on the bottom 6 teams, but history suggests they now struggle against the top 4 and Warrington. There are just too many question marks against this team to assume that the Saints are back. As a side issue, the new captain Matty Lees is set to missthe first 8 weeks of the season.

Love Rugby League are just typical of lazy punditry - Super League predictions: Our writers tip Leeds Rhinos for title. Leeds Rhinos are another team the pundits love to love. In reality, they have had a rubbish decade so far, and are still grappling with the issues of salary cap and NRL poaching. They have a team to compete with anybody, but the squad appears to have a large number of academy players who are not quite ready to make the step up. Without injuries, they are incredibly dangerous, but if required to delve into the lower squad numbers, they might well struggle.

Aaron Bower has followed a familiar trope and suggests that Leigh Leopards will slip out of the play-offs (hopefully, Aaron wants a Derek Humble Pie). Matt Shaw oddly mirrors my predictions with Leigh to finish top and Wigan to drop out of the top 2. I was not brave enough to make the call that the Grand Finalists of the last two seasons would both finish without home sem-finals.

What is Lammy Talking About?

Love Rugby League Leigh Leopards boss bemoans ruck speed rule changes for 2026 interview with Adrian Lam. I have read the law changes but I have no idea what he is complaining about. 

"It was confirmed ahead of the start of the 2026 campaign that players would now be forbidden from encroaching within ten metres of any opponent that is waiting for the ball. They must also surrender when an opponent gains possession of the ball."

Lying on the ruck is a straightforward issue, and I am happy with how it is officiated in 2026. Not sure how Lammy thinks the game was fast enough last season, or why lying on the floor behind the play the ball is considered to be ok.

Headhunters (and not the PNG variety)

 

Two weeks until the start of the 2026 season, we are still dealing with recruitment and retention for 2027. Leopards are Massive: Salary Cap, Retention & Recruitment written less than two weeks ago is already out of date.

Players and agents have a full year to negotiate the next move or new contract. Most of the current activity is based around Leeds and Leigh, two clubs that finished in the top 4 last season. Leeds have seen James McDonnell and Harry Newman get NRL booty calls from the newly formed Perth Bears. Former Leeds captain Cam Smith is going to the slightly less glamorous Wakefield Trinity. In previous years, you might have expected these kinds of players to see out their playing days at a large club like Leeds. The Rhinos are no longer exempt from having players headhunted.

Leigh Leopards are a few weeks behind the curve, although they did see Ethan O'Neill choose Headingley for the new season despite still having a year left on his contract. Rumours suggest a falling out, and  Lammy can be just as ruthless as Willie Peters if people are not toeing the line. Leigh have had to deal with survival uncertainty since being promoted. Contracts of two years became the norm, with neither club nor player wanting to commit to longer deals. With security comes longer contracts; the best example is Edwin Ipape, who signed with Leigh until the end of the 2031 season. Wigan have mitigated against the NRL clubs raiding all their young talent, including Brad O'Neill, Jake Wardle Kaide Ellis, Sam Walters and in much demand Junior Nsemba.

Leigh have managed to secure Umyla Hanley, but lost Robbie Mulhern to the Castleford Tigers. Chris Chester, with his insider knowledge manged to secure Mulhern. From the outside, the deciding factors would appear to be a return to West Yorkshire and a lengthy contract at 3 years. This will take Robbie to his 35th birthday, and a date with destiny as to whether to retire or continue. Leigh have often chosen the safer option with contract lengths when players are in their thirties. John Asiata, when aged 31, was offered a 3-year contract with Hull FC or a 2-year contract at Leigh. John has missed chunks of the last two seasons, and it remains to be seen whether Leigh or Hull FC got that call right.

Owen Trout appeared to have agreed terms with Leigh 2 weeks ago. The contract remains unsigned, and interest has come from both the NRL and Super League. Gut feeling suggests he is probably heading to the Southern Hemisphere for next year, with Cronulla Sharks and Perth Bears both expressing an interest. 

Lammy remains relatively chilled about the situation, as he did when Leigh lost Tom Amone, Kai O'Donnell, Zak Hardaker and John Asiata. The policy is to bring young talent under the age of 25, from the Australian Cup competitions. Leeds, by contrast, will look to the academy to blood some more youngsters.