{"id":498975,"date":"2026-03-27T21:47:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T21:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/498975\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T21:47:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T21:47:18","slug":"leigh-leopards-boss-hails-stars-mentality-as-injury-return-nears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/498975\/","title":{"rendered":"Leigh Leopards boss hails star’s mentality as injury return nears"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Armstrong is now just a few weeks away from a long-awaited return, and Leigh Leopards boss Adrian Lam has praised his full-back\u2019s mentality after a journey which has included plenty of setbacks.<\/p>\n

24-year-old Armstrong arrived at Leigh from NRL<\/a> outfit Newcastle Knights ahead of the 2025 campaign, brought in as a marquee recruit and handed a three-year deal.<\/p>\n

He provided glimpses of the player everyone expected him to be and had started to catch the eye before being struck down with an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury.<\/p>\n

Remarkably, he battled through that injury for three games before it came to a head in an away defeat against Leeds Rhinos last June.<\/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

\u2018It\u2019s probably the worst injury you can get in rugby league in the sense of rehabbing it and coming back\u2019<\/p>\n

The New South Wales native underwent surgery soon after, and has been on an arduous journey back to fitness since, with his return expected to come over the next few weeks.<\/p>\n

Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of the Leopards\u2019 Super League<\/a> clash with Toulouse Olympique this weekend, head coach Adrian Lam had plenty of praise for Armstrong.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cDavey\u2019s working hard, but there\u2019s still a lot for him to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat injury is long-term, and he\u2019s gone through the last nine months with that.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow good is it to say his name, to even just be able to say his name in that conversation (about returning players)?!<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had three of those injuries, so I know exactly the situation that he\u2019s in as well as the mentality and mindset that he\u2019s had over the last nine months.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably the worst injury you can get in rugby league in the sense of rehabbing it and coming back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve worked really closely with him, and it\u2019s all about confidence with that injury, but he\u2019s certainly done all the hard yards.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018He certainly was a shining light for us last year in that early part of the season\u2019<\/p>\n

Armstrong \u2013 who scored five tries in five NRL appearances for the Knights \u2013 had scored eight tries in 15 appearances across all competitions for Leigh<\/a> last term before being struck down with his ACL injury.<\/p>\n

He will likely slot straight back into the Leopards\u2019 side at full-back, with replacement Bailey Hodgson having injured his Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL) earlier this year, sidelined until circa Round 9.<\/p>\n

Lam continued: \u201cOur medical team have worked really hard with him, so it\u2019s about the feel now and the confidence of when he\u2019s ready to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe certainly was a shining light for us last year in that early part of the season, and we missed him for the second part.<\/p>\n

\u201cBailey Hodgson did an amazing job to replace him for the second part of that season, and both of those players will be back in consideration in the not too distant future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really excited.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Armstrong is now just a few weeks away from a long-awaited return, and Leigh Leopards boss Adrian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-498975","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\/498975","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=498975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}