Wigan boss Adrian Lam slams players’ workload as injuries ravage his team
ADRIAN Lam has slammed the workload Super League players have to endure as ‘outrageous.’
He also believes the fixture schedule is contributing to injuries, including Thomas Leuluai’s hamstring which could end his career.
The Wigan boss has had to put his squad through eight games in 38 days – with another five between now and the end of the month.
And he has had enough of constantly putting players through such a gruelling schedule, which is seeing plenty go down.
Scans will determine whether veteran Leuluai will be back on the field this year, then it is up to him whether he will call it a day at the end of the season.
And Lam said: “I’ve never seen anything like it in rugby league, it’s outrageous.
“We’ve had a couple of soft tissue injuries off the back of it now and that’s just fatigue.
“Tommy has done his hamstring to a pretty serious degree. He said to me it wasn’t good when he came off.
“If that’s the case for Tommy, it’ll be devastating or me and the club. We’ll wait for scan results but it doesn’t look good at first sight.
“If it is the end, it won’t be ideal but that will be something he needs to discuss with the club.
“With the schedule, I’m actually thankful it’s not me any more but as coach you get the emotional load, you wake up at ridiculous hours thinking about who’s playing where.
“I feel for the players when you look around the dressing room and see they’re just flat.
“We’ve had players play injured and we’ve had to do that for several weeks. Now Tommy has a potentially long-term hamstring injury.
“He’s our captain, the player I turn to the most.”
*BLAKE Austin insists he wants to ‘prove himself’ after only signing a one-year deal at Leeds from next season.
The Warrington star said: “I opted for a one-year deal to prove myself to the Leeds faithful. I also believe it’s something that will help get the best out of me personally but I definitely want to settle in for a lot longer.”