Why Adrian Lam signed Matt Moylan to take Leigh Leopards ‘to the next level’

REJUVENATED coach Adrian Lam is ready to make his third pre-season at Leigh the most effective yet as he prepares to prove the doubters wrong by sharpening the Leopards’ claws even further.

The 53-year-old is back on a chilly training ground after returning from Australia, where he had a short sunshine break after assisting Kangaroos chief Mal Meninga at the Pacific Championship.

It was something of a busman’s holiday for Lam, who has held his Australia position since 2016 and he credits Meninga, with whom he worked when previously in charge of Papua New Guinea, with playing a key role in his development as a coach.

For he took an internal flight for a one-to-one meeting with Matt Moylan, the former Australia, New South Wales and Penrith Panthers player, who was persuaded to leave Cronulla Sharks with a year of his contract still to run to become Leigh’s new stand-off.

The 32-year-old was the eighth addition for the Leopards in the wake of this year’s Challenge Cup triumph and appearance in the play-offs, twelve months after winning promotion to Super League in ex-Wigan coach Lam’s first season at the helm.

Leigh have also recruited halfback or hooker Ben McNamara from Hull, centre prospect Jack Darbyshire from Warrington and forwards Lewis Baxter (St Helens), Louis Brogan (Swinton), Dan Norman (St Helens), Kavan Rothwell (Wigan) and Owen Trout (Huddersfield).

And, while pleased with all the club’s business, Lam reckons Moylan will have a particularly important part to play in pushing the ambitious club even further forward.

“There are some people saying this year was a one-off, that we got lucky, but that’s fine, we will just keep working hard to prove them wrong,” he said.

“We have definitely strengthened the squad, and we are definitely ahead of where we were this time last year.

“But we know we have to keep our feet on the ground, stay focused and make the absolute most of what is a short pre-season to bond and prepare ourselves to power on.

“I was really pleased to be able to convince Matt to come over, because he was ready to stay and fight for a place at Cronulla.

“I have coached him with Australia, so I understand what he’s about and what he can bring. He will suit our team and I think his style will suit Super League.

“There have been a few questions about his age, but that experience is something I think will be important.

“What Matt brings as both a player and a person can help take us to the next level as a team.”

If Moylan is a better player than the player he is replacing namely, Ben Reynolds, then there is a very good chance that the Leigh team will be a notch or two better then we were last season and, let's face it, we were pretty good most of the time.

I trust that Lammy knows his man and would not have made such a big personal effort to get his signing over the line if he did not rate him as a player. I'm pretty confident that he is right in this judgment of the player, and perhaps more importantly, of the man himself.

I also don't think that there will be a great amount of pressure on Moylan to star right from game one - although it would be great if he did. The creative spine of the team from last season, O'Brien, Lam, Asiata, Edwin is still in place and the team will tick along nicely without Mylan necessarily having to be immediately the creative fulcrum. I think this will work to his and the team's advantage. The fireworks will hopefully come later.