Young guns can lead the charge to glory

Date published: 03 October 2014


SCOTT Naylor is looking at his fresh-faced forwards to come of age on the big stage and give him a long- overdue Grand Final triumph.

Man for man, his Oldham pack is years younger than Hunslet's set, especially in the front row where Phil Joy (23), Michael Ward (23) and Nathan Mason (21) will go head to head with Richard Moore (33), James Houston (31) and Michael Haley (27).

At 31, Jason Boults balances things a little, but if Oldham start with a front row of Boults, Gareth Owen and Joy, as they did in the two previous play-off games, they will have an average age of 25 against the opposition’s average 33.

"They pulled in a few top-quality lads to help them in the play-offs and we'll have to handle them like we did when we won on their ground in the first round," said Naylor.

The Oldham coach oozes confidence in his young pack, four of whom – Joy, Danny Langtree, Ward and Kenny Hughes – each spent at least two years in the reserves before Naylor picked them for his senior squad.

Speaking after the win at Hunslet, Naylor said of Oldham-born Mason, who is on loan from Huddersfield Giants: "He's a young kid who has come on immensely in the past 12 months.

"He was up against some big names in the Hunslet pack and he was fantastic. He looked for all the world like a Super League player."

Naylor heaped similar praise on another born-and-bred Oldhamer, Phil Joy, after an even better team

performance at York: "He doesn't know how good he is, or how good he could be. He often does two or three carries in a set – that's amazing."

Mo Agoro apart, Oldham's players and Naylor himself were overlooked in the nominations for end-of-season divisional awards, but the Roughyeds' coach believes he has the best second-row pair at this level in Langtree and Josh Crowley.

And he says most clubs would give a lot for a bench that, in the last two games, has comprised Ward, Hughes, Mason and tearaway George Tyson, who celebrated his 21st birthday on Wednesday.

He added: "We have a firm opinion on how we need to play, and what we need to do in order to beat Hunslet.

"Fans probably didn't notice, but we played very differently in the two play-off wins, adopting

structures designed to suit the opposition.

"A lot of what we do against Hunslet will involve the forwards, but it's not all about attacking. You have to stop Hunslet as well, and that isn't easy.”