Adrian Lam

Although he was born in Papua New Guinea, and was a proud Kumul in the Test arena, Adrian Lam was Maroon through and through at state level in Australia, given he graduated to the big time through the ranks of Wests-Mitchelton in Brisbane, where the family settled when he was seven.

He played halfback in Wests Panthers' 1993 Brisbane grand final win over Easts, when he marked future Origin team mate, Paul Green.

That Wests' side included former Origin centre, Tony Currie and future Origin forward, Brad Thorn, who would go on to represent Australia in rugby league and New Zealand in rugby union.

While Green joined Cronulla in Sydney, Lam linked with the Roosters - in 1994 - and developed into a classy playmaker. In 1995, with the game split down the middle by the 'Super League War', the QRL gained special dispensation to call on PNG skipper, Lam's services, given a dearth of proven halfbacks available at the elite level.

He proved a cornerstone of Queensland's miraculous 3-0 triumph, and was named man of the match in Game III.

He was sharp, a good thinker, had a good short kicking game and he was pretty tough, he just kept getting up.

Paul Vautin FOG#24

Lam went on to play another 11 games for Queensland, captaining his state in eight of those games. In addition to playing 12 Tests for PNG, Lam captained a Rest of the World side against Australia in Brisbane in 1997. His Roosters' team mate, Brad Fittler, captained Australia.

Lam and Fittler were halves in the Roosters' 14-6 loss to the Broncos in the 2000 grand final.

The following year, Lam joined Wigan and played four seasons for the English powerhouse, going on to be coach of the club from 2019 to 2021, after stints as an assistant at the Roosters and St George Illawarra.

In 2022, Lam was appointed coach of English club, Leigh.

His English born son, Lachlan is a Sydney Roosters' contracted player and has represented Queensland at Under 20s level, under the father / son rule.

Lachlan's mother, Anita, is from Bundaberg and represented Queensland in basketball, netball and touch.