Experience will serve us well —chairman

ROUGHYEDS ROUND UP: GREGG McNally was not alone in having a tough afternoon against Hunslet.

But Roughyeds chairman Chris Hamilton has emphasised that the on-loan Huddersfield Giants player, along with plenty of others in a youthful line-up, is still learning the game.

And with the club still second in the Co-operative Championship One table, Hamilton argues that the season as a whole up to this point has been one full of positives.

“We had five youngsters playing on Sunday against a big and highly experienced Hunslet side,” he said.

“Chris Clarke and Joe Chandler in the back-row, Ben Heaton and Danny Whitmore coming off the bench, and Gregg McNally at half-back.

“We mustn’t forget that Gregg is only 19. We gave him a key, organisational midfield role after only one week of training with us.

“I’m sure the lad was a bit shell-shocked and if he was he wasn’t on his own.

“He is a very good player, but he came in for his debut with a lot of responsibility on his shoulders and on a day when we got a drubbing from a Hunslet team that might not play as well as that again all season.

“We are not hiding from the pasting we took or trying to paper over the cracks, but we do need to keep things in perspective.

“We have a lot of young players making their way in the sport and we are delighted about that because we have always said we will give youth — and particularly local youth — a chance.

“They are good young players and good young men. They are exuberant, they show no fear and they are determined to do their utmost to give themselves a chance of progressing up the ladder.

“They have done us proud this year, and as a club we are proud of them, but they are inexperienced, still building themselves up physically, and they have a lot to learn. They know that more than anyone.

“We are bound to have the odd blip, like we had on Sunday, but it isn’t the end of the world and it certainly isn’t the end of the season.”




SUPPORTERS are reminded that at Whitebank, official post-match presentations and speeches take place in public in the concert room.