{"id":453915,"date":"2026-02-02T16:41:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T16:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/453915\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T16:41:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T16:41:07","slug":"leigh-leopards-boss-hints-at-fresh-international-coaching-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/453915\/","title":{"rendered":"Leigh Leopards boss hints at fresh international coaching interest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leigh Leopards boss Adrian Lam admits he may be tempted back into an international coaching role ahead of this year\u2019s Rugby League World Cup, with a proud personal record on the line.<\/p>\n

Former Papua New Guinea international Lam has been involved in every World Cup since 1995, when he featured twice for his home nation as they exited at the group stage.<\/p>\n

He also starred for the Kumuls in the 2000 edition, before leading them as their head coach in both 2008 and 2013 once his playing career had come to an end.<\/p>\n

And most recently, the 55-year-old was involved in back-to-back World Cup wins as one of Mal Meninga\u2019s Kangaroos assistants, helping Australia<\/a> to glory in both 2017 and the delayed 2021 editions.<\/p>\n

Lam stepped away from his role with the Kangaroos a couple of years ago, but now that a World Cup year is back upon us, he may not be able to resist the temptation of extending his record.<\/p>\n

Want more Love Rugby League? Add us as a preferred source on Google<\/a> and ensure you never miss our exclusives and breaking news!<\/p>\n

Leigh Leopards boss hints at fresh international coaching interest with proud record at stake<\/p>\n

During Leigh<\/a>\u2018s pre-season media day, Lam was asked about the potential of him leading England at this autumn\u2019s World Cup, with Shaun Wane having vacated that role last month.<\/p>\n

But while he was honest in an admission that the England job wasn\u2019t one he\u2019d given any thought too, the Leopards chief did open up on his international coaching career.<\/p>\n

Lam detailed: \u201cSince 2016, I hadn\u2019t had an off-season, really, until recently. I\u2019ve had two off-seasons now where I\u2019ve been in Thailand for a long period of time where I got a chance to refresh and recharge the batteries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last two years, I\u2019ve come in feeling really ready for the year ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI pulled out of the Aussie side because I needed a break in the off-season. Rugby has been a massive part of my life and I\u2019ll be forever grateful for that, but the moment I get some downtime, I\u2019m at a beach somewhere trying to chill out and relax.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut having said all that, I haven\u2019t missed a World Cup since I played in 1995.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a player or as a coach, I\u2019ve been involved in every once (since then), and I probably don\u2019t want to give that up, so there might be an opportunity somewhere along the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have to wait and see.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018It is a difficult job to get a team, but for anyone that wants to do it, it\u2019s quite the reward\u2019<\/p>\n

Lam formed part of Mal Meninga\u2019s coaching team with the Kangaroos, but that dynamic has changed since he stepped down from his assistant role.<\/p>\n

Kevin Walters is now at the helm of the Aussies, with Meninga having opted to move on to pastures new in the shape of NRL franchise Perth Bears, who will enter the NRL at the start of 2027.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s World Cup takes place Down Under across Australia and Papua New Guinea, with Lam adding: \u201cI was involved with Australia for eight years as an assistant and loved every moment of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a difficult job to get a team, but for anyone that wants to do it, it\u2019s quite the reward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the years when the World Cup finishes off Super League<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully I\u2019ve got a few players involved in teams (at the World Cup), as I think that would be great reward for what we\u2019ve achieved as a club.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leigh Leopards boss Adrian Lam admits he may be tempted back into an international coaching role ahead of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-453915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}