Naylor relishing Cougar Park test

JAMEL CHISHOLM

OLDHAM are ready to move up in the rugby league world – and coach Scott Naylor will know far more about his revamped squad’s Championship credentials after Sunday’s first pre-season run-out at Keighley.

“We’ll learn more about ourselves in 80 minutes at Cougar Park than we have in seven weeks of pre-season training,” said Naylor, who is preparing his newly-promoted side for a championship campaign that will be his own and the club’s biggest challenge yet.

Adam Neal and George Tyson, key men in the promotion side, have left to go full time with Sheffield Eagles, but Roughyeds have re-signed most of the squad and topped it up with new boys Danny Grimshaw, Jamel Chisholm, Jack Spencer and Craig Briscoe.

Centre Jon Ford, on loan from Salford several times in the past three years, is also now a fully-fledged Roughyed.

Continuity and stability will be key elements in the 21-man squad that features 11 men who have been with Naylor since he took charge at Whitebank in the autumn of 2012.

Typically, he asked for the first of his three Championship warm-up games to be at Keighley where Roughyeds were well beaten in League One last season after producing arguably their poorest performance of the year.

“That ground has bad memories for us,” he said. “As such, it will give us a big mental challenge before the season even gets started,” he explained.