Lam out to prove Super League’s worth against Roosters

WIGAN, England: Adrian Lam said Sunday’s World Club Challenge meeting with the Sydney Roosters was a chance for the Wigan Warriors to prove Super League can match it with the best of the NRL.
Despite being just two matches into his tenure at the famous English club, Warriors coach Lam said having an English side crowned world champions was the ideal way to hammer home that point.
“That’s the whole idea of this particular game and the pure existence of Super League in the UK,” Lam told NRL.com.
“One way to show that, is to beat the best from Australia.”
Despite hosting the match, the Warriors are well aware they will start as underdogs against the Tricolours. “I think everyone is saying that (we have no chance of winning), even a lot of the people in the streets here,” Lam said.
“I think people see the NRL as being superior and that’s why I think it’s really important for Super League and rugby league supporters in the UK to get out and support Wigan — whether you’re a Wigan supporter or not.
“Get behind the Cherry and Whites because it’s important that we can show the world that Wigan and the Super League is as good as it’s ever been.”
Lam, who played 146 matches for the Roosters and 119 for the Warriors during a stellar playing career, was part of the NRL club’s coaching and recruitment staff up until last season.
As well as facing familiar faces in the opposition coaching box this weekend, there is a chance his son Lachlan will be part of the Roosters 17-man squad as he travelled to England in a 23-player party.
If 20-year-old Lachlan does see game time he will have done something his father never did.
“It’s probably one area I regret,” Lam said. “I did just about everything else in the game of rugby league except for play in this World Club Challenge.
“If he gets the chance to do that it’d be amazing as his debut.”
On a lighter note, Lam has taken great delight out of the banter that followed the NRL decision to label the Roosters “world champions” on billboards in Atlanta leading into the Super Bowl.
The former Queensland Maroons and Papua New Guinea representative said his club’s response on Twitter hit the mark.
“I love that stuff,” Lam said.
“When I saw that I thought this is what the game is all about, we need a bit of back and forth jargon and what not. I think the Wigan club responded really well with the billboards back. – NRL.com