Naylor wary of Mac factor

SCOTT Naylor has warned of the dangers of the “Steve McCormack factor” in Oldham’s West Country clash with Gloucestershire All Golds.

One of the most experienced coaches outside Super League, McCormack masterminded the All Golds’ surprise 34-24 win at London Skolars last Sunday in his first game in charge.

Naylor knows he will be even keener to put one over on Roughyeds in his first home game at the Prince of Wales Stadium in leafy Cheltenham on Sunday (3pm kick off).

Gloucester raised eyebrows a fortnight ago when tempting Wigan-based McCormack, Scotland’s head coach for the past 10 years, to succeed Kiwi Brad Hepi.

The son of former Oldham centre Jim McCormack took the unfashionable Scots to the quarter-finals of the World Cup last autumn after also coaching Salford, Whitehaven, Widnes, Barrow and Swinton.

He led both Whitehaven and Widnes to a couple of grand finals and won the Northern Rail Cup with Widnes in 2007.

Naylor said: “In his short time at Gloucester he will have worked hard to put a lot of structure into their play. They will be a different proposition now, as their win in London would indicate.

“He’s a very good coach and he's proved himself wherever he has been. I’m expecting a very tough game.”

Oldham’s poor defensive performance in a 31-30 home win against York formed part of last night’s routine review by coaching staff and players.

“We looked at the things we needed to look at,” said the Oldham coach. “That’s it now. We’ve put it to bed. Time to move on.”

Adam Files apart, everyone came relatively unscathed through last Sunday’s thriller. Files, a substitute making his first appearance after routine knee surgery, was on the field for only six minutes before he broke down again. The player will be seeing a specialist soon.

But prop Paddy Mooney, who has been out for several weeks with a back complaint, did a full training session last night and is on the road to recovery.