Oldham hopeful over new deals

DESPITE their disappointing 17-16 Grand Final defeat, Oldham RL Club hopes to re-sign most of its players for 2015, coach Scott Naylor has revealed.

Every player on the books is out of contract, but skipper Lewis Palfrey, Josh Crowley and Steve Roper have already stated publicly their intention to stay.

Naylor, whose own two-year contract runs out soon, said: “We started talking in general terms about next season a while ago and decided then that, no matter which division we were going to be playing in next year, we wanted to keep most of the squad together.

“If we can do the same again this time, with another year under our belts, we will become more consistent in what is going to be an extremely tough competition.”

The Oldham boss feels it will be necessary to have a stronger squad next season, and will be topping-up with new recruits.

Work on signing players and building for life in the new 14-club League One will go up a notch now that the grand final is consigned to the record books.