Langtree secures contract

Oldham RL Club have tied up a second player from their talented reserves squad on a pro contract as they build the team for the next season.

Twenty-year-old utility forward Danny Langtree, one of the squad's youngest players, has penned a deal to November 30, 2012, to follow the lead set by goalkicking stand-off Jamie Dallimore.

A St Helens boy, Langtree played his junior rugby with Blackbrook before signing for his home-town Saints as a 16-year-old and spending two years at Knowsley Road in the Super League club's academy set-up.

On his release by Saints, he was recommended to Oldham, whereupon reserve-team coach John Hough invited him to join his Roughyeds' class of 2011, which has won 13 and drawn one of its 17 games so far.

"I was tipped off about Danny's potential," said Hough, "and advised that he was looking for an opportunity. We gave him that opportunity, and he responded superbly.

"He has had an excellent season, and the contract is his reward.

"He has played every position in the pack for us this year – front-row, second-row and loose – with equal success. We are trying to determine which will be his best position, but that's something for the future.

"I see no reason why he can't step up to the first team next year, especially if he gets the benefits of a good pre-season in the gym and on the weights. He has certainly looked the part in the reserves."

While the reserves trained at a venue in Shaw last night, centre Matthew Fogarty and prop Tom Wood-Hulme were pulled out of the squad to train with the first team at Whitebank, under Tony Benson.

Centre Marcus St Hilaire (dead leg) remains a serious doubt for Sunday's Co-operative Championship One clash with South Wales at Whitebank (3pm) so 19-year-old Fogarty stands by.