Roughyeds look strong for 2009

WITH a clean bill of health across the squad, it is possible to perm two distinct 13-man sides from the Oldham squad that would be highly competitive in next year's Championship One.

The injury-free caveat is a giveaway, admittedly, in a sport as physical as rugby league. As is the lack of substitutes.

Still, take this team, for example: Paul O'Connor; Andy Ballard, Paul Reilly, Chris Baines, Lucas Onyango; Neil Roden, Thomas Coyle; Paul Highton, Gary Sykes, Luke Sutton, Tommy Goulden, Wayne Kerr, Rob Roberts.

Or this one: Daryl Cardiss; Ben Seru, Craig Littler, Danny Halliwell, Marcus St Hilaire; Phil Joseph, James Coyle; Richard Mervill, Simeon Hoyle, Jason Boults, Luke Menzies, Craig Robinson, Dave Allen.

And it is clear that this is a squad, no doubt assembled at some cost, that means business.

After the disappointment of last year and, to some extent, the failure to finish the job off following a superb run at the back end of 2007, Oldham's owner Bill Quinn and chief executive Chris Hamilton have illustrated through the signings a greater-than-ever determination to gain promotion to the all-new Championship.

Even with the 26 players named above, you still have players like Lee Greenwood and Jamie I'Anson - both signed earlier this week - looking to fit in.

Greenwood, a renowned try scorer with plenty of Super League experience which mainly came at Halifax and London Broncos, is well known to coach Tony Benson whereas I'Anson is not.

However, the Kiwi coach expects both to play a big part in the Roughyeds' 2009 campaign.

"I coached Lee Greenwood at Leigh and he is a prolific try scorer, from anywhere on the pitch," said Benson.

"He probably has the best percentage of long-distance tries of anyone. He is also very aggressive on defence and he makes good decisions.

"The other good thing about Lee is his kick returns, which are very good. He has a lot of experience and has played at Super League level so he will be good for guys like Lucas Onyango to work with.

"We have got a few good young props in the squad and Jamie is a very strong bloke who is pretty aggressive.

“To be honest I haven't seen him play, but when I was at Leigh I had a friend at Leeds who said that I should take a look at him.

“Coming through at a club like that, he wouldn't have been kept on if he didn't have something about him."

Benson also has the five young men from last year's reserves side — Scott Mansfield, Chris Clarke, Ben Heaton, Mark Smith and Anthony Bingham — who will be keen to draw on the combined experience and expertise around them during pre-season training.

On that score, the Roughyeds coach is happy with the way things have gone over the first month.

Strength and conditioning work has been the order of the day so far, though the squad is about to get started working on on team skills.

Players have been coming in for gym work either in early mornings or in the evening, with a variety of outdoor venues and terrains at play at weekends, around various venues from Wigan to Halifax and in-between.

"Training has been going really well and it helps that with the competition we have got, players know they have to train hard," he added.

"The next fitness tests we will be carrying out are on December 9 and the squad is working hard towards that."