Twenty-four hours before Warrington’s remarkable victory over St Helens, Leigh also took part in a thriller in their Super League play-off eliminator against Salford Red Devils.
About 4,000 fans made the short trip to Salford Community Stadium to witness a sensational tie between two sides aiming to extend their season.
Leigh came out on top, edging out Paul Rowley’s Salford, but not without their share of injuries.
Their season has started and is now drawing to a close under a cloud of injuries. At Salford, the Leopards lost Josh Charnley to a neck problem which led to him being taken to hospital, while Frankie Halton also failed a head injury assessment.
“We feel like we’re not finished yet, we’ve had some injuries during the season and a few more HIAs including last week,” boss Adrian Lam told Radio Manchester.
“It seems like the whole season’s been disrupted in some way. We’re quite used to that, but in a sense of the importance of the game, the past couple of months have been quite consistent so we’re excited to go over there and play our best rugby.
“We haven’t had much to cheer about at Leigh, history would show, but the fans have got a real strong voice at the moment.”
Leigh are bidding farewell to the core of a side which has outperformed expectations since their return to Super League last season.
Lam hopes his team can channel their emotion into a winning result when they travel to World Club Challenge, Challenge Cup and League Leaders’ Shield winners Wigan on Saturday.
Zak Hardaker, Oliver Holmes and John Asiata are all heading for Hull FC next term, Kai O’Donnell and Tom Amone are going to the NRL, while a number of other players – including talismanic centre Ricky Leutele – are leaving the Leopards at the end of the season.
“I think it will play a part emotionally,” Lam added. “Hopefully it plays its part against Wigan.
“The boys wanted to be on their terms when it ends and I think more importantly than that, we need to make sure we’ve got clarity on how we want to play, try to defend the threats and take our opportunities.”
