{"id":131875,"date":"2025-09-12T08:53:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T08:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/131875\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T08:53:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T08:53:09","slug":"leigh-leopards-boss-confirms-upcoming-contract-announcements-as-edwin-ipape-point-made","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/131875\/","title":{"rendered":"Leigh Leopards boss confirms upcoming contract ‘announcements’ as Edwin Ipape point made"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Leigh\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Leigh Leopards will make contract announcements in due course with Adrian Lam more focused on making history, something that he believes Edwin Ipape will have a big influence on.<\/p>\n

Lam confirmed that Ipape is definitely past the injury niggles that saw his form dip and the Leigh boss noted that the hooker is \u2018starting to get back to his best\u2019, with the Leopards possibly set to expect more to come.<\/p>\n

In mid-August, Ipape was confirmed to have been carrying both a groin injury and a knee issue<\/a> for a few weeks with Adrian Lam admitting that the Papua New Guinean\u2019s form hadn\u2019t been up to his usual standards.<\/p>\n

Having previously revealed a \u2018one-on-one\u2019 chat, Lam confirmed to the media today (Thursday) that those talks, as well as the time off, had helped the Leigh Leopards star take a step forward.<\/p>\n

Lam said: \u201cThere was a period there where he was playing injured for probably about six or seven weeks and he wasn\u2019t at his best but we\u2019ve had clear and precise communications about what the expectation is with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe rested him in a game or two and minimised his time at certain points, but he\u2019s certainly back to his best now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwin Ipape \u2018back to his best\u2019 with warning sent ahead of Super League play-offs<\/p>\n

That was on show last week against Warrington Wolves and after addressing the combination between Umyla Hanley and Keanan Brand<\/a>, Lam also pointed to the impact of Edwin Ipape.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Edwin Ipape is starting to get back to his best,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cHe had a nice little kick in behind for Matty Davis\u2019 try and he\u2019s running a bit more now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hoping that these next two weeks for Edwin, his game goes to another level. It usually does at this time of year because we\u2019re going to need him.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was something he\u2019d double down on, stating: \u201cI know at the end of last year, his performance has changed a couple of really key games for us and no doubt he\u2019s going to do the same this week, whether it\u2019s through his defence or his attack. We need Edwin at his best and I feel really confident that he is back to that best and looking forward to watching him play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Serious About Rugby League has launched a brand new podcast which can be watched in full on our YouTube channel here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Leigh Leopards contracts to be confirmed in coming weeks<\/p>\n

Ipape\u2019s form over previous years saw him land what was the longest contract in Super League with the hooker penning a deal earlier this year that tied him to the club until the end of 2031<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As such, he won\u2019t have a contract worry for some time but a number of key players are off-contract and Lam offered an update on when those decisions will formally be announced.<\/p>\n

He has previously suggested that playmakers Gaz O\u2019Brien and his son Lachlan will be at the club<\/a> in 2026, despite the pair officially being off-contract.<\/p>\n

Speaking today, the Leigh Leopards boss said: \u201cAll those decisions will be made over the next couple of weeks, I feel. There\u2019ll be some announcement in the next couple of weeks from the club, but we always usually hold it to the end of the year, so I\u2019ll keep those cards close to myself at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited about what\u2019s to unfold for next year, but obviously more excited about what\u2019s in front of us now. I think the club\u2019s in a position where it\u2019s never been at this time of year, in the top four, where we\u2019re achieving goals and ticking targets and reaching things that we\u2019ve never seen before. It\u2019s great to be a part of enjoying the ride, but we\u2019ve got to take advantage whilst we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leigh Leopards will make contract announcements in due course with Adrian Lam more focused on making history, something…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-131875","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}