Leigh Leopards head coach Adrian Lam has spoken about the fact Super League clubs will be able to roster up to ten overseas players in 2026 and how it will impact the club’s recruitment, explaining one key problem in the ‘puzzle’.
In a week where changes have been seismic, notably the fact Super League clubs have voted for the league to expand to 14 in 2026, it was also confirmed that the number of quota players available to each club will increase.
Currently, Super League sides can have a maximum of seven overseas quota players but that will increase to ten from 2026. Coupled with the addition of two more teams, it means that up to 56 more overseas players could play in Super League next year, something that has drawn concern about opportunities for young English players.
One concern that Leigh Leopards coach Adrian Lam has is the fact that the salary cap, which currently sits at £2.1 million, will not increase meaning teams will have to ‘juggle the pieces’ in Lam’s view.
Leigh Leopards boss discusses 2026 recruitment
Lam was discussing the club’s recent “aggressive” recruitment in which around a dozen new faces have signed to the club each of the past few years, something which has effectively led to a very new-look squad.
He explained that he’s ‘grateful’ the Leopards won’t have to do that in 2026, stating that there will be “maybe a handful” of new recruits meaning he expects his side to be able to hit the ground running faster next year.
With seven overseas players on the books already for 2026, Lam was asked if he could foresee his side maxing out their quota and that saw him highlight the key issue.
“It’s a difficult one because whilst the quota spots have gone up from seven to ten, the salary cap remains the same so you have to juggle the pieces and put the puzzles together on how we do that.”
He’d add: “I think we’ve done with that as good as any other club in the last two or three years. I think we’ve recruited better than anyone so I’m sure we’ll get that right, but if there’s 10 available, then I presume most clubs would like to do that. We’ll see how that pans out as that new season unfolds.”
Adrian Lam confirms 2025 signing could still be made
One way plenty of the more established clubs will counter that is with the promotion of youth players, something we’ve seen recently from Leeds Rhinos as they signed three players to senior deals, including the son of Jamie Jones-Buchanan.
Leigh have only had an academy licence for a very short period of time but Lam explained that the Leopards plan to keep funding that and avoid the local Leigh talent being poached by other clubs.
“There’s a handful of them playing in the top three or four clubs already that probably should be here,” he admitted, before confirming he intends to bring at least one through as he has done each year during his time in charge.
Another interesting point made by the Leopards’ head coach was the fact the club still have money available this year and could be in a position to add ahead of the play-offs, with the transfer deadline recently pushed back until August 28th.
Lam revealed: “This season, we’ve still got another four weeks roughly on potentially bringing someone else in. I’m not saying that we’re going to, but there’s an option to do that.
“We, like probably not too many other clubs, have got the funds financially in a position to do that. We want to be aggressive with all of that. I think whilst it’s just about August, we still have our best rugby ahead of us.”
