Hughes has half-back potential — Naylor

SCOTT Naylor believes hooker Kenny Hughes can make a name for himself at Whitebank by switching to half-back.

When Danny Whitmore quit with a broken arm in the Gateshead game, Coach Naylor threw reluctant hero Hughes in at the deep end as partner to skipper Lewis Palfrey in one of the two pivotal decision-making roles at the hub of the Roughyeds’ attack.

It was the 23-year-old St Helens-born Hughes’s first run at half-back since his junior days with Blackbrook amateurs.

Naylor later revealed that he identified Hughes’s potential in pre-season training.

“Kenny preferred to take his chance as a hooker, and I respected that,” said the Oldham boss.

“He might think differently now. If Kenny was to give serious thought about playing at half-back on a more permanent basis it would also be a way of getting him more game time.”