Leigh head coach Adrian Lam believes last year’s dramatic Betfred Challenge Cup final win over Hull KR at Wembley laid the foundations for the club to become a recognised force at the top of the domestic game.

Lachlan Lam’s golden-point drop goal sealed a 17-16 win and sealed a stunning first season back in the top-flight for the newly rebranded Leopards, who also defied expectations by reaching the end-of-season play-offs.

Second-season syndrome has struck this term with the Leopards currently languishing in ninth place as they prepare to reprise their Wembley showdown when they head to Craven Park to face buoyant Rovers in the quarter-finals this Saturday.

But Lam, who concedes KR will be “red hot favourites” for their latest meeting, is confident that the lessons learned from their success in the last campaign will stand them in good stead for the foreseeable future.

He said: “The Challenge Cup was one of the greatest moments for the club in the past century, and it created some memories that we will keep in our hearts – not just the players and staff but the whole town.

“Our town hasn’t had too much to cheer about over the last 50 years, and this has really given it some hope and a breath of fresh air, for people to be able to come down and support a team that they know has a chance of winning every week.

“And I think for supporters of other sports, they know who we are now. We have etched our name in the history and folklore, and as a club we have given ourselves an identity for people to watch and support.”

Leigh will go into the game on the back of consecutive derby defeats to Wigan and Salford, in contrast to KR, who have scored three straight wins including last week’s 50-10 triumph over rock-bottom London.

Lam described Rovers’ recent form as “scintillating”, and suggested the hosts will be up for the fight in light of what happened at Wembley last year: “They will be emotionally connected to that, so we have to match it,” he added.

However, Rovers head coach Willie Peters insists the tumult of last year’s Wembley occasion will play no part in their quest to build on their promising early-season form and seal their place in the semi-finals.

“A lot of people will be talking about what happened last year, but we’re certainly not,” said Peters.

“It’s a different year, a new year. It’s the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup in 2024. All we’re focusing on is going out there this weekend and getting a result.”

Leigh are likely to be boosted by the return of prop Tom Amone after a month out with a foot injury, while Jez Litten will return for Rovers in place of Ben Reynolds, who is cup-tied.

Adrian Lam is determined to prove Leigh’s stunning 2023 season was no fluke.

Fuelled by an off-field rebranding campaign, the promoted Leopards not only charged up the Super League table on their top-flight return but dramatically won the Challenge Cup for the first time in 52 years.

After spending most of the summer era toiling in the lower tiers – with just three fleeting single-season campaigns in Super League amid numerous financial crises – it marked an extraordinary turnaround.

The challenge now for their dynamic former Wigan coach Lam is to prove it was no flash in the pan, as he fears many people suspect.

“I think people underestimated us last year,” said Lam, who was named coach of the year after following up cup success with a fifth-placed finish.

“I think people probably still doubt that we can do it and potentially feel that we may have got lucky, so we’ve still got a few people to prove wrong.

“We’re aware that it’s going to be that little bit harder because everyone’s aware of us.

“But we’ve added 10 new players to the group and hopefully they can bring something to us, while we’ve not lost many. We’ve just got to believe really, and have that consistency.”

Lam is pleased with how his squad has been rejigged over the winter. While a host of new faces have arrived, a core of key players including Dream Team entrants John Asiata, Robbie Mulhern, Josh Charnley, Edwin Ipape and the coach’s son Lachlan Lam have all been retained.

Among the new signings is former Penrith and Cronulla playmaker Matt Moylan, a one-cap Australia international, who looks set to play alongside Lam junior in the halves.

Lam senior said: “I think the new players that have come in are definitely better players, to add to the squad and to make us better.

“That’s all really exciting. We’ve just got to make sure that we gel off the field. By doing that we get the trust on the field.

“I think that the goal will be to finish higher than we did last year, so that would be in the top four.

“I think that’s a realistic goal but it’s going to take a lot of hard work. We’re aware of that but we’re a club that’s on the up and we want to show that’s what we’re capable of.”

The Leopards, who beat Warrington 28-12 in a pre-season friendly last weekend, begin their Super League campaign when they host Huddersfield on February 16.

Leigh Leopards hero Lachlan Lam revealed he entered unknown territory when he let fly with the drop-goal that sealed his side’s historic Betfred Challenge Cup final win over Hull KR at Wembley.

Lam was set up by team-mate Gareth O’Brien, who minutes earlier had missed his own glaring opportunity to clinch the winner in golden point extra time, and duly converted for the first time in his career.

“It was my first pro field goal, and it felt like I had a lot of time when I kicked it,” said Lam, one of the stand-outs of the season who added the prestigious Lance Todd Trophy for his man of the match display in Leigh’s 17-16 win.

“We’ve done a lot of work on it in the last few months because you know you’re going to be in that position at some stage,” added Lam. “Gaz missed the first one and had the trust to throw it back to me to take that kick.

“I dropped it a little bit on the angle but halfway towards the posts I knew it was going over. It happened really quickly. I went to celebrate and all of a sudden I was on my back.”

Leigh’s win, which continued an astonishing first season back among the top flight, was fashioned in the most dramatic of circumstances after Matt Parcell helped haul Rovers level with 80 seconds left of normal time.

After O’Brien missed the first chance to win it, the usually dependable Brad Schneider came up short for Hull KR with a rash long-ranger and gave Lam, the son of Leopards head coach Adrian, the chance to seal a fairytale title.

The pride was etched on the face of father Adrian, the architect of Leigh’s amazing campaign, who said: “It’s just incredible to talk about how this has happened.

“This time last year we were coming in to prepare for the (1895 Cup) final. How that’s gone around in the last 12 months, it’s an incredible story for rugby league for us even to be here.

“I don’t just want to make it about Lachlan but it was a special moment. I’ve thought this week how lucky I am having him playing here for my team and doing well.

“It was just a really weird moment when he went to take the field goal, the ball was thrown back to him and I thought, he’s going to win us the game here.

“I’ve coached him since he was six so what went through my mind was knowing how many times we’d been in the opposite position and been left heartbroken, so that was a bit of serendipity.”

Rovers boss Willie Peters hoped his side had the momentum following their late fightback but admitted a botched extra period cost them dear.

Instead of the ice-cool way in which they sank Wigan in similar circumstances in the semi-final, Rovers coughed up an early error then Schneider’s snatched effort failed to find touch.

“I thought our luck had changed and we had got the momentum,” said Peters. “But we’ve got to learn our lessons and Leigh showed us how to play in golden point, we took six carries and went for a long-distance field goal.

“We didn’t handle golden point very well but I’m very proud of the players. We just hung in there and it proves the fight and character of this team to keep going to the end there and lock it up.

“We had our chances so it’s really hard to take. We will have a good little break now but we have always come back and responded, and on Friday when we go to St Helens, if we want to be flat and complacent we’re in for a long night.”

Lachlan Lam kicked the first golden point in Betfred Challenge Cup final history as Leigh Leopards ended over half a century of hurt by clinching a dramatic 17-16 win over Hull KR at Wembley.

Lam, the son of Leopards head coach Adrian, made no mistake in a dramatic extra period after team-mate Gareth O’Brien spurned an earlier chance and Brad Schneider also fell short for Rovers.

Tom Briscoe’s late try left Leigh within two minutes of victory in normal time before Matt Parcell pounced to slap down a high kick and Schneider’s nerveless conversion forced the extra period.

It was a remarkable ending to an absorbing but error-strewn affair in which the magnitude of the occasion clearly got to both sides as they sought to end their long waits for silverware.

And all the more amazing was the sight of the leopardskin-clad Leigh staff storming onto the pitch to celebrate one of the most remarkable Cup wins in the sport’s history in the first season back among the game’s elite.

In truth Leigh had always looked the better team with Rovers fortunate to emerge from a mistake-filled first period with just a two-point deficit after losing Elliot Minchella for the last 10 minutes of the half for a high tackle.

And Parcell’s late intervention – awarded after a nailbiting series of replays to determine if Kane Linnett had knocked on – might have favoured Rovers, fresh from a similar golden point escape act in their semi-final win over Wigan.

The errors continued in the early heart-stopping moments of the extra period with O’Brien, whose drop goal for Salford had relegated Rovers in 2016, inches from repeating the misery before his team-mate Lam came to the rescue.

Errors had poured in from the opening set, Rhys Kennedy’s fumble handing Leigh the early advantage, before Ben Reynolds kicked Leigh into a two-point lead after Minchella was penalised for charging in to protest a tackle by John Asiata.

Asiata’s tackling technique has been the subject of strong criticism in recent weeks but the apparent plot back-fired on Rovers who fell behind then spectacularly failed to capitalise when O’Brien grounded a routine kick.

Handed the initiative 15 metres from the Leigh line, Schneider served up a loose pass which almost sent Leigh winger Josh Charnley scampering clear, with Rovers plainly struggling to adapt to the occasion.

Seemingly at the centre of everything, Minchella wrested the initiative on the quarter-hour with a rugged run that split the Leigh line before he handed over to Jez Litten to shunt Rovers in front.

Schneider atoned for his earlier error with the conversion and as Rovers pressed again, Tom Opacic was denied a penalty try after protesting he was pulled back as he tried to force his way through.

Leigh responded with a sweeping move that ended with Lam scampering clear under the posts, and when Minchella saw yellow for going high on Reynolds shortly after the Leigh stand-off’s conversion, it looked set to be a testing last 10 for Rovers.

Schneider came to Rovers’ rescue by stopping O’Brien in his tracks, then desperate defending kept Zak Hardaker and Josh Charnley at Bay, and Rovers even narrowed the deficit from Schneider’s long-range kick on the hooter after Ed Chamberlain coughed up the final error of a wild and woolly first half.

Schneider kicked Rovers level as the second half started in much the same fashion as the first, but Leigh were slowly ratcheting up the pressure with only some valiant defence preventing Adrian Lam’s men going back in front.

Rovers continued to be their own worst enemy, an awful spill by Ethan Ryan stretching his side through a torrid set, before a Mikey Lewis spill in his own 30 on 65 proved an error too far.

Leigh finally converted their opportunity when O’Brien arrowed his pass to send Briscoe diving over in the corner, and Reynolds’ conversion from the touchline sent Leigh within 10 minutes of history.

Parcell served up one last twist in the dying seconds, with Schneider sending the game into the extra period, but there was to be no great escape act again as Lam ensured that Wembley would turn an improbable shade of leopardskin.