Leigh Leopards coach sings the praises of Josh Charnley and makes Edwin Ipape injury admission

Charnley featured in Lam’s matchday line-up for the first time since May 22 on Friday night, producing an excellent individual display to help the Leopards inflict an 18-8 defeat on his former club Wigan.

There has been a lot of speculation regarding Charnley’s future beyond this season, but he certainly proved he still has what it takes to perform at the highest level, having registered 212 metres from 21 carries against Wigan.

It would no doubt have been a tough time of late for Charnley, who has found himself out of the Leigh team, but he has earned big raps from his coach Lam for his professionalism throughout this period.

"Josh is a great player, Josh is a great person,” Lam said in his post-match press conference.

"We’ve had some really tough conversations about the decisions we’ve made to have him miss out. It’s not easy, it’s the hardest part of the job, but we’ve been honest, and he’s now got the opportunity to get that jersey back.

"I thought he was outstanding tonight. I’m proud of him; it’s been a tough period for him, so he played really well.”

Meanwhile, Edwin Ipape delivered another standout performance for the Leopards in their win over the Warriors, making 11 carries and 17 tackles to go along with his try.

And, quite remarkably, Lam revealed that the Papua New Guinea international was close to withdrawing before the game through injury.

"Unbelievable,” Lam said of Ipape. “He was a 50/50 chance of not playing tonight, we were going to rule him out in the warm-up, he was close to missing out because he’s got a bit of a knee injury.

"I think when he’s fit, he’s as good as any player in this country, he’s definitely the best nine, and he’s just next level when he gets his hands on the ball.

"I’ve been playing him at 13 a little bit, and he comes alive there, you can see the game change a little bit, so I’m excited to see where we can get that to, so watch this space.”