Saints Take the Spoils

 

"We probably haven’t played that poorly since the Challenge Cup semi last year here against Warrington" Adrian Lam.

In Leigh there is a familiar saying, "In Lam we trust". Adrian Lam is that rare thing in British sport, a head coach who does not get any criticism, but sometimes there is a need to question what the hell is going on:

1. In 2023, Leigh had "The Lethal Left Edge"; it was the favoured wing for Lachlan Lam to attack on. It was stacked with Kai O'Donnell, Ricky Leutele and Josh Charnley. All of these were potential outlets for Lockie to attack with. The icing on the cake was Gaz O'Brien who played full-back and would chime in for extra punch. The right edge was to say the least a little clunky.

In 2024, Leigh signed a wonderful attacking half-back in the shape of Matt Moylan. Wonderful soft hands and eye for playing heads-up rugby. Unfortunately for Matt, his career was coming to an end due to having a weakness in defence. Moylan was switched to full-back and O'Brien moved to half-back and "The Lethal Left Edge" was no more.

In 2025, Leigh pulled off a coup, signing David Armstrong a young man with speed to burn. The half-back problem identified in 2024 would remain, and Gaz O'Brien would continue to fill in. Armstrong was injured early season but would continue to play before Leigh unearthed a gem in Bailey Hodgson.

In 2026, Leigh now have an issue that they have two outstanding Full-backs, Gaz O'Brien is now utility backup and Adam Cook is playing in the halves. 

2. In 2023 and 2024, John Asiata was the undisputed king of the Loose Forwards. 2024 was an injury-ravaged season, and Asiata would eventually seek a move to Hull FC, to gain a lengthier contract.

2025 the response from Leigh was to bring Auckland-born NRL star Issac "the Iceman" Liu to the LSV. Liu had played most of his career at Prop, but Lammy saw a loose forward in Isaac. A cool head to distribute when needed and to tuck the ball under his jumper if no options were available.

2026 Round 1 Issac Liu was on compassionate leave, returning to the UK only a matter of days before the Leeds game. The response was to utilise another Prop in the Loose Forward slot with Joe Offahengaue having a monster game. Round 2 Issac Liu is left on the bench and Joffa retained the role of 13. Earlier this week Lam had discussed his plan to utilise both hookers, Ipape and Horne, in a rotating 9 and 13 role.

Scenario 1, I can understand that circumstances dictated a personnel change. Scenario 2 makes no sense, fixing what isn't broken. After the St Helens game, Liam Horne would not be in the matchday squad, coming on to the field, his first action was a tip, 2 minutes later, he threw the ball out of the try zone for a drop out.

Lammy was not a happy camper, he labelled the performance as their ‘worst in nine months’ and full of ‘uncharacteristic’ errors. “We’re very frustrated that we put ourselves under pressure with so many penalties and errors against, it’s uncharacteristic,” Lam said post-match.
“Some players didn’t have their best games, and we’re a new team trying to find some comfort in trying to chase the game towards the end, but we just couldn’t get that together."

Congratulations to St Helens for the win; it was not the "Rowleyball" we were promised. This is very much Saints of the last few years. Kick to the corners and squeeze the attack. Hastings may see lots of the ball, but he does nothing but drop it off the big boys or kick. He is a shadow of the "man-of-steel" from 5 years ago, but he may still prove the cog that gets the team turning. As yet, I am still unconvinced.

St Helens v Leigh Leopards - Round 2 Super League 2026

 

BrewDog Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in St Helens, Merseyside, England. Previously known as the Totally Wicked Stadium, between 2017 and 2025, and as Langtree Park between 2012 and 2017, it has a capacity of over 18,000 and is the home ground of rugby league club St Helens R.F.C.

In Super League, there are two teams that didn't get the memo, Saints are one and Hull FC are the other. Super League was supposed to be about monikers, something to make dreary Northern towns sound more accessible and exotic. Hull FC had a short dalliance with Hull Sharks but they soon changed back to FC after stabbing Gateshead Thunder in the back. St Helens maybe known as the Saints, but they are not St Helens Saints, no they go by the drab Rugby Footbal Club tagline. In Britain we have clung to the past and still use RFC and RLFC, it makes no sense we are not Football Clubs we should be proud to be Rugby League. The NRL all adopted monikers, and we often refer only to the monikers. One of the newest clubs in the NRL go by the Dolphins and ignore the fact that they are really called The Redcliffe Dolphins.

Anyway I digress, Round 2 of Super League throws up an interesting tie, (dubbed the "Rowley Derby") St Helens v Leigh Leopards. St Helens are one of the most decorated teams in Rugby League:

Championships	17 (1932, 1953, 1959, 1966, 1970, 1971, 1975, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2014,  2019, 2020, 2021, 2022)
Challenge Cups	13 (1956, 1961, 1966, 1972, 1976, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2021)
World Club Challenges	3 (2001, 2007, 2023)
Other honours	39

By the virtue of being extremely successful, they are also one of the most entitled clubs and supporters in Super League. They expect to win every trophy, every year without fail (see also Wigan Warriors and Leeds Rhinos). If you doubt me then check out Redvee TV – RedVee.Net they can be found all over YouTube, and particularly interesting when Saints lose. St Helens dominated Super League for four straight seasons 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 but have been in decline ever since. 3rd, 6th and 5th would be good performances for normal teams, but for the Saints fans this is totally unacceptable. The scapegoat for their woes was club Legend Paul Wellens, his sacking at the end of the 2025 season is very much part of the current woes bestriding the club at present. Paul Rowley was drafted in from the wreakage of Salford Red Devils, along with a number of his former charges: Nene McDonald, Deon Cross and Joe Shorrocks. The shenanigans at the club resulted in no pre-planning for the 2026, and St Helens have been behind every club in a scramble for new recruits. Considering how far they were behind it is a wonder they have managed to recruit David Klemmer, Jacob Host and Jackson Hastings, plus the ex-Salford players already mentioned. For many pundits this was a team ready to assume it's rightful place at the top of Super League.

Round 1 found St Helens playing away at local rivals Warrington Wolves. The Wire had a difficult 2025, finishing in 8th place, 10 points of the play-off spots. This was considered to be an easy win for St Helens, but by half-time they were already 18 points down and an improved 2nd half did little to change peoples opinions that St Helens are perhaps not the finished article just yet.

Round 2 sees St Helens host the Leigh Leopards in a local derby. For a team under pressure so early in the competition, Saints will not be looking forward to a tussle with the Leopards. A win for Saints however, will ignite their season, but a loss will put a huge dent into any title aspirations before the season has got going. 

For Saints, having already lost their Captain Matty Lees for a 10 week period, they now have to contend with the loss of Jack Welsby for 3 months. St Helens suffered several key injuries last season, but in particular Paul Wellens was forced to tinker with the spine. It became so serious that nobody could accurately guess what spine options would be used on any given day. The start of season was still plagued with questions as to what options Rowley would choose and which square pegs would be used in which round hole. The recruitment of former Man-of-Steel Jacson Hastings, seemed to establish at least one of the spine spots. The loss of Jack Welsby will result in shuffling the pack of cards with at least 3 players: Nene McDonald, Tristan Sailor and Harry Robertson all options at Full-back. The obvious choice is for Tristan Sailor to move to number 1 and Jonny Lomax move to stand-off. For this reason I fully expect Rowley to choose Nene McDonald and shoe-horn a winger into the vacant centre spot. Whatever happens I expect some form of tinkering to this St Helens side and for Rowley he needs to find a solution fairly quickly, with Welsby out for up to 12 weeks.

Leigh Leopards on the otherhand have moved from being 11 players out for the Challenge Cup 3rd round, only 2 weeks ago to naming an almost full 21 man squad. David Armstrong is still unavailable, but the only other gap from 2-23 is that of AJ Towse, which understandable because their already 3 wingers named in the 21 man squad. 

Umyla Hanley is close to a return after injury, and Frankie Halton and Jack Hughes both picked up knocks. I fully expect Issac Liu and Aaron Pene to be in the matchday squad.

Lammy has different headaches than Rowley this week, and it going to be interesting what selection choices he will choose.

Looking forward to the lightshow at the Brewdog Stadium, once the World Club Challenge is out of the way.

Round 1 Winners and Losers

 Not a surprise for Rugby League, we have 7 winners and 7 losers and no draws. 

1. Winners - York Knights - on a fantastic opening night, York managed one of the greatest upsets in 30 years of Super League, beating the treble winners of 2025, Hull KR.

2. Losers - Hull KR - on the flip side of the opening night, the Robins expected an easy victory on the way to 2 frantic weeks, with the World Club Championship and a Super League match in Las Vegas against the Leeds Rhinos. Hull KR have a week to turn around the disappointment of the opening night and face the formidable Brisbane Broncos. Brisbane is taking this match very seriously and wants to win the trophy for Australia, after a recent period of dominance by the English clubs. Little Willie Peters has a tough job to turn around the season before it goes off the rails, before it has really started.

3. Winner - Ata Hingano apparently slotted home his first-ever drop goal. The precision and coolness of the night were a thing of rare beauty.

4. Winner - Warrington Wolves - totally unfancied after last year's drop down the table. All the talk was of Paul Rowley, Jackson Hastings, triumphant return and a treble for St Helens. Instead, Warrington won the game in the first half with a magnificent display by the young Cai Taylor-Wray. The loss of Matt Dufty is on nobody's lips in Warrington.

5. Losers - St Helens - for all the reasons above and huge expectations of this club, this was a bad night. The bad news continued the next day with the public beheading of CEO Mike Rush, who was blamed for the handling of club legend Paul Wellens sacking. James Roby, another club legend, walked away, and now Mark Percival's signed contract has mysteriously vanished. Club Captain, Matty Lees is out for 10 weeks, and now it is believed Jack Welsby will join him on the sidelines. A club in turmoil after only one week.

6. Loser - Jack Welsby - after missing a large chunk of the 2025 season, Welsby has been trying to regain the form that made him the best full-back in Super League. A relatively poor end to the season was capped by a flaccid performance in the Ashes series. A shoulder injury that will potentially see him in rehab for up to 10 weeks.

7. Losers - Leeds Rhinos - After an impressive 4-game domination of the Leigh Leopards, Leigh finally got their revenge. Much will be made of the Rhinos' weakened team and the absence of the current Man-of-Steel. It may only be the first round, but games against the teams likely to be in your vicinity come the end of the season may come back to haunt you. Without Jake Connor, Leeds failed to find any real creative spark.

8. Winner - Will Pryce - After returning from a disappointing spell in Australia, Will Pryce looks poised to take Super League 2026 by storm. A fantastic running Full-back, he just needs to remain fit and healthy for the full season.

9. Winners - Bradford Bulls - They may have lost narrowly to Hull FC, but Bradford have come away with a great deal of credit. Of course, they will not be happy until they break the duck, like all the other promoted teams have managed. Joe Mellor and Waqa Blake are the stand-outs in a losing team.

10. Winners - Toulouse Olympique - on their return to Super League pulled of one of the shocks of the round beating the much fancied Wakefield Trinity. Special mention goes to Olly Ashall-Bott, who has become a veteran at Toulouse since finding himself surplus to requirements at Huddersfield. A two try haul was just enough to get Toulouse Olympique over the line after Cesar Rouge kept hitting the woodwork with his conversions.

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.

Where is Issac Liu?

 

Not a murder mystery, but as usual, Adrian Lam has been quite cryptic. Here is where the confusion arises, Adrian Lam said last week, "Of our 30-man squad, there are 11 unavailable and only 19 available" So far so good. "We’ve only got 19 to choose from for this week; there are ten players out."

From that conversation, we know the 19-man squad that was named for the trip to Colwyn Bay:

1. Bailey Hodgson
2. Innes Senior 
3. Tesi Niu 
4. Keanan Brand
5. Josh Charnley
6. Adam Cook 
7. Lachlan Lam
8. Robbie Mulhern
9. Edwin Ipape
10. Owen Trout
11. Frankie Halton
12. Jacob Alick-Wiencke
13. Jack Hughes
14. Andrew Badrock
15. Ben McNamara 
16. Nathan Wilde
17. Gareth O’Brien
18. AJ Towse
19. Ryan Brown

On top of that, we have the 4 injured against Warrington the week before:

1. Umyal Hanley (Rotator Cuff)
2. Joe Ofahengaue (3 teeth and HIA)
3. Liam Horne (HIA)
4. Matt Davis (Gash on leg with stitches)

Already missing from the friendly against Warrington:

1. Aaron Pene
2. Issac Liu
3. Louis Brogan (Injured)
4. David Armstrong (Injured - ACL)

Status Unknown:

1. Kavan Rothwell
2. Will Brough
3. Oliver Polec

The finger appears to be pointing at Aaron Pene or Issac Liu. The final piece of the jigsaw was the clue on the Leopards website, and the men's team photos.

Everybody has a photo, with the exception of Issac. If Issac has gone back to Australia, Samoa or New Zealand for personal reasons, then what is the big issue? The public have no right to know why, but if a star player is not available we should have some idea in which round to expect him back. Not because we are nosy we just want to see the strongest team available at the start of the season, especially as we face Leeds, St Helens and Wigan as the first 3 games.