{"id":633502,"date":"2026-06-11T18:09:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T18:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/633502\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T18:09:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T18:09:12","slug":"leigh-leopards-handed-double-injury-boost-as-adrian-lam-set-for-welcome-selection-headache","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/633502\/","title":{"rendered":"Leigh Leopards handed double injury boost as Adrian Lam set for welcome selection headache"},"content":{"rendered":"

\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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Leigh Leopards could have both starting centres Tesi Niu and Umyla Hanley available for Sunday\u2019s Super League clash against Bradford Bulls, with Adrian Lam potentially set for a welcome selection headache.<\/p>\n

Even if Hanley and Niu do not return this week, they\u2019re expected to return later this month and that will be a major boost for a side that have suffered all year long with injury issues.<\/p>\n

On the prospect of that headache, Leigh<\/a> boss Lam said: \u201cI\u2019d love that issue but it looks like that may be the case so when that time comes I\u2019ll just wait and see. We haven\u2019t had that luxury yet this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what we\u2019ve learnt outside of those injuries is that we trust each other and we\u2019ve got that belief of playing and players that may not have played have played a lot more time and minutes which have got them into some form, so we\u2019re grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brad Arthur commits to Leeds Rhinos, Hull KR lose back-to-back and Captain\u2019s Challenge rule debated \u2013 Click here to listen to this week\u2019s episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n

Leigh Leopards centres set for return<\/p>\n

That trust has seen players out of position such as Bailey Hodgson and Jack Hughes, who played in the centres last week, but with the prospect of Hanley and Niu returning this week then potentially that could change on Sunday.<\/p>\n

When speaking about squad selection for Sunday\u2019s game, for which the 21-man squad will be named at midday on Friday, Lam revealed: \u201cInto consideration for this week\u2019s 17, I think Umyla Hanley will come into play for that and so too will Tesi Niu.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having both back would be a major boost especially as Hanley was listed at three to four weeks only last week<\/a> and despite being in training this week, they still may not play on Sunday given that Leigh play Hull KR next Friday, with Lam noting: \u201cThe danger with this week is after this Sunday game, we go into a short turnaround into a Friday game but we\u2019ve just got to make some decisions on what\u2019s the best interest for those players and the team so those two will come into consideration which is fantastic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether they play this week or the week after, that\u2019ll be probably a conversation I\u2019ll have with them on captain\u2019s run on Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Should they not play then Bailey Hodgson will start at centre but Lam is expecting a headache for who plays full-back in the coming weeks and months.<\/p>\n

\u201cBailey Hodgson has been ever-present for us after missing so many weeks,\u201d Lam said, adding: \u201cHim back and Davey Armstrong back, it\u2019ll be a tussle there who holds a full-back position as we progress into the second part of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another man who could return soon is Ben McNamara following his recent thumb fracture.<\/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 could have both starting centres Tesi Niu and Umyla Hanley available for Sunday\u2019s Super League clash…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-633502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633502","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=633502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}