Roughyeds coach handed forwards fitness boost

LIAM Thompson sustained an ankle knock at Barrow.

FORWARDS Liam Thompson, Michael Ward and Danny Whitmore have given Oldham RL a triple tonic ahead of Sunday afternoon’s derby clash with Swinton Lions at Whitebank.

Though only a warm-up game, rival coaches Scott Naylor and Ian Watson have stressed the importance of the pre-season run-out.

Naylor said: “We’ve got a new half-back (Brett Robinson), two new props (Alex Davidson and Paddy Mooney) and two new full-backs (Tom Whitehead and Steven Nield). We’ve got things to work on and these are the games which we use to get ourselves sorted out.

“I was really pleased with how we went at Barrow and I’ll be looking for an even better show this week. Performance is more important than the result in games like this one — it’s vital we get better week on week.

“It will be another tough one against a team from a higher division — just like last week — so it will be interesting to see what happens.”