Leader of the pack scoops award

PRIZE GUYS . . . Neil Roden (left), Nathan Murgatroyd, Phil Joy, Richard Lepori, Lewis Palfrey and Craig Thomas.

PHIL Joy’s rapid rise from novice to pack leader in his first season of senior rugby earned him Oldham RL Club’s player-of-the-year award.

The 22-year-old prop received his trophy a year after winning its reserve-team equivalent.

“In that year we’ve watched him grow as a player and as a person,” said head coach Scott Naylor at the club’s end-of-season awards dinner.

“We looked at him at our first training session at the club and wondered who he was and what on earth he was doing there. He didn’t look like a rugby player at all.

“But he went better and better during the long weeks of pre-season training and he stepped up again when the season got under way.

“It didn’t seem too long before he was leading the pack. He was consistently good all season.

“On top of that he’s one of the nicest people you could wish to meet.”

Joy said: “A few of the boys could have won it. I was lucky to have such great team-mates around me.”

Club captain Lewis Palfrey won the Dave Davenport Trophy as supporters’ player-of-the-year, presented by ORSA chairman Nigel Marland. The players’ top player was full-back Richard Lepori.

Club chairman Chris Hamilton presented a clubman-of-the-year award to Craig Thomas, for his work behind the scenes.

Neil Roden, who has retired as a player after making nearly 300 appearances for the club, was given a special long-service award.