OLDHAM RUGBY chairman Chris Hamilton has given a strong hint that Roughyeds have more business still to do in their recruitment campaign for 2015. 
Having re-signed most of their leading players from last season on new contracts, and topped up by bringing in “quality” additions like George Tyson, Gareth Owen, Adam Neal, Jarrod Ward and Jack Holmes, Roughyeds are now well on their way to completing their roster for life in the restructured Kingstone Press League One.
But chairman Hamilton told fans and sponsors at the club’s annual awards night at Whitebank: “Scott (head coach Naylor) and I discussed at great length why we fell at the final hurdle in last season’s Grand Final and we concluded that we perhaps lacked that little bit of quality that can make all the difference in tight games.
“We have tried to remedy that by assembling a squad for 2015 which we believe has that additional quality, and we have not necessarily finished yet.
“We still have a couple of announcements to make in order to put the final two pieces into the jigsaw and thus complete the picture.”
He said that, with due respect to all the signings, the most important one was the retention of coach Naylor on a new three-year contract.
And he went on: “I’m very confident that in the next three years Scott and ‘Spanner’ (assistant boss Lee Spencer) can take us forward.
“I had a meeting with Scott a couple of days after the Grand Final and he thought I was going to sack him.
“He thought he was going to get the bullet (because Oldham were beaten in the Grand Final by Hunslet) but I’m not that brave!
“Seriously, he was brought in two years ago to change the culture of the club and step things up and he has done that, and a lot more besides.
“We do have blips – that’s the nature of sport – but we always bounce back and that’s great credit to the coaching staff and players.”
Second-row pair Josh Crowley and Danny Langtree were joint winners of Naylor’s player-of-the-year award, while Crowley also lifted the supporters’ top award and Langtree walked off with the players’ player trophy.
Beth Pankiw, the masseur, was awarded the club person of the year trophy, while the Rev Tony Ford, the club chaplain, lifted the ‘unsung hero’ award.
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