Skipper Roden hails Roughyeds spirit

OLDHAM celebrate their Law Cup triumph over Rochdale Hornets at the Whitebank Stadium.

TEAM spirit and togetherness will form a big part of Oldham RL Club’s armoury in the season that lies ahead.

That was the message from Neil Roden after he lead Roughyeds to a 34-28 Law Cup triumph over derby rivals Rochdale Hornets.

Roden captained an Oldham squad of 18 which included eight debutants, six of whom had never played previously at Championship One level.

The new boys who had seen it all before were 26-year-old replacement hooker John Clough, Blackpool Panthers’ player of the year in 2010, and 31-year-old former Wigan, Leigh, Rochdale and Swinton forward Andy Isherwood.

The six who stepped up to this level for the first time were centre Alistair Williams, winger Jamie Knight, scrum-half Mick Diveney, prop Liam Gilchrist, second-rower Ben Wood and prop Tom Wood-Hulme.

Roughyeds won 17 of their 20 league games last season, finishing second to champions Hunslet.

Said Roden: “A fantastic team spirit was a feature of our 2010 season, and it’s going to be the same again in 2011.

“We have a lot of new players and it’s still early days, but we’ve been training for several weeks and the old team spirit is back again — no danger about that. You can feel it.

“It will stand us in good stead when things get tough, as they undoubtedly will.

“It’s also a plus to see so many young Oldham boys coming through and coming into the squad. That will also benefit us.”