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| Born | (1970-08-25)25 August 1970 (age 54) Rabaul, Papua New Guinea | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 12 st 0 lb (76 kg) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Position | Scrum-half | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Relatives | Lachlan Lam (son) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Adrian Lam (born 25 August 1970) is a Papua New Guinean professionalrugby league coach, and former player, who is currently thehead coach of theSuper League clubLeigh Leopards.
He played for theSydney Roosters in theNational Rugby League and theWigan Warriors in theSuper League. He representedPapua New Guinea,QueenslandState of Origin team and the Rest of the World team.
He was the head coach of Papua New Guinea between 2007 and 2012. He was assistant coach for Australia in the2021 World Cup.
Lam was born 25 August 1970 inRabaul, Papua New Guinea. His mother was fromLiverpool and migrated to Australia as a child. She met Lam's father, a Chinese-Papua New Guinean, in Rabaul. The family moved toBrisbane in theAustralian state ofQueensland when Lam was seven.[3][4]
Lam had a fertile career with 14State of Origin football matches forQueensland, including a man-of-the-match performance in the third game of the 1995 series. He made his Test début forPapua New Guinea in 1994 and went on to win 11 caps, scoring 3 tries and kicking 1 field goal. In 1996, he captained the 'Papua New Guinea National Rugby League Team' against Australia. In 1997, he captained the 'Rest of the World' team against Australia. He captained the Kumuls to the quarter finals in the2000 Rugby League World Cup. He played at halfback for theSydney Roosters in their2000 NRL Grand Final defeat by theBrisbane Broncos.[citation needed]
He played a total of 146 club games for theSydney Roosters, scoring 42 tries and kicking 6 field goals, as well as 119 first team games forWigan Warriors, scoring 44 tries, kicking 1 goal and 10 field goals, including a try in their2001 Super League Grand Final defeat by theBradford Bulls.
Lam is one of only a few players to have played State of Origin for Queensland and for a country other than Australia. He is also the only player to be captain of a Queensland side and captain of a national team other than Australia.[5]
Lam became coach ofPapua New Guinea Kumuls national rugby league team in 2007, and was in charge for their2008 Rugby League World Cup campaign.[6] He quit asKumuls' coach in 2009 after a dispute with thePapua New Guinea Rugby Football League.
In June 2007 he was appointed inaugural coach of the newQRLWizard Queensland CupNorthern Pride team based inCairns. However, three months later he was offered the position of assistant coach at theNRLSydney Roosters under their new coachBrad Fittler. Lam was released and he leftCairns forSydney before thePride's first game.[7]
In 2009 he moved to theSt. George Illawarra Dragons as assistant coach underWayne Bennett.[8]Lam became the coach of theSt George-Illawarra Dragons Under 20s team in 2010 and 2011. He returned as coach of Papua New Guinea in 2012.[9]
Lam returned toWigan Warriors in 2019 as interim Head Coach and later in 2019 made his spell as Wigan coach full time as he signed for another year afterShaun Edwards opted not to join Wigan for 2020. In 2020, Lam coached Wigan to theLeague Leaders Shield and guided them to the2020 Super League Grand Final against St Helens where Wigan lost 8-4 after a try scored by the Saints following the full-time siren. Lam was seen openly crying during the post match interviews.[10]In round 20 of the2021 Super League season, Wigan were defeated at theDW Stadium bySt Helens 2-26 under Lam's coaching. It was the first time in the club's history, since moving to the DW Stadium in 1999, that they had failed to score a single try.[11]The following week, in Round 21, Wigan were beaten at home byLeeds 0-14, and this was the first time in Super League era that Wigan had been held scoreless at home.[12]On 31 August 2021 after a number of poor results, Lam announced that he would be leaving Wigan at the end of the2021 season, after three seasons in charge.[13][14]Lam's final game in charge of Wigan came in the first week of the 2021 Playoffs Series againstLeeds where Wigan lost 8-0.[15]On 17 November 2021, Lam was announced as head coach ofBetfred Championship sideLeigh Centurions, replacing interim head coachKurt Haggerty.[16]On 3 October 2022, Lam coached Leigh in theirMillion Pound Game victory overBatley which saw the club promoted back to theSuper League. Lam achieved the double in his first full season as Leigh coach as the club also won theRFL 1895 Cup.[17]
On 12 August 2023, Lam guided Leigh to victory in the 2023 Challenge Cup final againstHull Kingston Rovers. It was Leigh's first major trophy in 52 years.[18]Lam guided Leigh to a fifth placed finish in the 2023 Super League season. Leigh were eliminated in the first week of the playoffs against Hull Kingston Rovers.[19]
He has 2 sons Lachlan Lam and Bailey Lam. His sonLachlan Lam is a professional rugby player, who represents Papua New Guinea and plays for theLeigh Leopards.
In 2010 a court ordered former State of Origin teammateDale Shearer to repay approximately $1.5m to Lam for an outstanding loan, which dated back to 2005.[20]
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