AFTER a build-up rendered bizarre even by rugby league’s often baffling standards, neighbours Wigan and Leigh are set to do battle in the first Super League play-off semi-final at the Brick Community Stadium on Friday night.

Leigh’s relatively serene progress into the last four for a second straight season was spectacularly interrupted on Tuesday night by a threat from their owner Derek Beaumont, relayed in a series of late-night emails to Wigan chief executive Kris Radlinski, to withdraw from the fixture over a relatively minor ticketing issue.

Beaumont subsequently issued a rambling 4,465-word statement addressing a number of perceived injustices, while also implying that he had never formally suggested that the game be cancelled.

While few gave the threat any credibility, it lent unnecessary farce to the prospect of a thunderously good clash between two heavily connected local rivals, whose respective coaches have no cause to draw upon any additional and unwanted hype.

The visitors have a big point to prove having been thrashed 38-0 by Wigan in last year’s semi-final, but head coach Adrian Lam believes his side have a much more positive prospect of booking their first final place second time around.

Unlike 2024, when they somewhat limped into the post-season due to fatigue and a number of injuries, Lam’s men reeled off six straight wins to round off a 2025 campaign that also included two wins over their closest neighbours.

That included Gareth O’Brien’s drop goal to seal an extraordinary 1-0 golden-point win at Wigan on the first day of the season, and coming just four months after their semi-final humbling, Lam is convinced it was a significant moment in their upward trajectory.

“It’s about taking those learnings from last year’s finals,” said Lam, who was speaking before Beaumont’s dramatic intervention.

“The biggest turnaround for me was that four months after being touched up, we won in the 84th minute in round one which broke the hoodoo. There have been a lot of different moments of growth, and that was a great way to start the season.

“To be 80 minutes away from Old Trafford two years running as the Leigh Leopards is an incredible story, but having said that, we want to achieve things we’ve never done as a club.”

Crucially, Lam will be able to call upon his son and star half-back Lachlan Lam, whose charge of “unacceptable language” towards Wakefield’s Mason Lino in last week’s play-off eliminator has been deferred until October 6 at the earliest.

Lam spent two years as coach of Wigan until 2021 before being succeeded by Matt Peet, who acted as one of Lam’s assistants for much of his tenure and is glowing about the influence Lam cast on his own burgeoning coaching career.

“It was a privilege to work with him,” recalled Peet. “He supported me and he still does. He’s very experienced, he’s worked with world-class teams as a player and a coach, and he understands when to turn up the intensity and when to back off.

“I’ve been on a journey with the same team, so as a group we’ve learned how to approach [big games] and what works for us. I suppose the most important thing is to trust the players because a lot of the work has been done through the years.

“The hype is done for us. The players are aware that the event is going to be huge and the crowd and the atmosphere will bring so much of that. The media attention serves a great purpose and with the combination of all that the players won’t need reminding that this is a huge game.”