Ton-up Lee too busy to notice

LEE GREENWOOD: Century landmark.

OLDHAM’S Lee Greenwood was too busy to realise he was approaching 100 career tries.

The 28-year-old, who had tasted life in Super League with four clubs, reached the landmark with a second-half double against Blackpool Panthers.

Greenwood’s impact from the left wing helped the Roughyeds turn an 18-4 deficit into a 36-18 win in their first game of the new league season.

Glancing at the former Sheffield, Halifax, London Broncos and Huddersfield man’s normal week, it is no wonder he would struggle to maintain up-to-date playing records.

He works for Calderdale College in Halifax during the day, trains three nights a week with Oldham and is also coach of National Conference League premier division outfit Siddal.

And at this time of year, the weekends are entirely taken up by rugby league.

After being put through his paces by Oldham coach Tony Benson on Saturday mornings, he then hot-foots to wherever Siddal are playing in the afternoon, before getting back into Roughyeds mode for the game on Sunday.

Hectic stuff - but Greenwood is pretty laid back when it comes to reflecting on his notable achievement.

He said: “I didn’t have a clue how many tries I had got until it was mentioned to me a couple of weeks a go.

“It’s always nice to get to these milestones but I suppose 100 tries for a winger doesn’t seem that many. It would be interesting, however, to know my tries per game ratio, because I never seem to play a full season.

“There isn’t really a try that sticks in the memory, but it’s always nice to score in a televised game.

“I scored on my debut for Huddersfield against Hull and that was in front of the cameras, so that was special.

“To be honest, though, it doesn’t matter if they are from one metre or 100 metres, they all count and as long as the team wins, then that’s okay.”

Greenwood’s ‘ton’ is made up of 45 for local club Halifax in two spells, 23 in the colours of London Broncos, three for Huddersfield, 25 for Leigh Centurions, two for England and now two for Oldham.

He has also played for Sheffield, where he started his professional career after being spotted at Siddal under-18s.

The brace at Boundary Park last weekend were his first tries for Oldham in a competitive game.

“I hadn’t got one for a while and it was beginning to play on my mind,” said Greenwood, who signed a one-year deal with the Roughyeds.

“It was turning into a bit of drought and I thought Oldham had brought in a winger who couldn’t score a try. I was even contemplating the naked run at the end of the season!”

As for Sunday’s comeback win against Blackpool, Greenwood was grateful that they got the job done after a dreadful opening 40 minutes.

He said: “It was pretty awful in the first half. We were trying to force it and ended up doing nothing right, but we managed to get it together after the break.

“At least it was better to have the boos at half-time and the crowd clapping at full-time. The other way round would have been worse.”