WHILE THE World Cup will take centre stage in rugby league during November, clubs like Oldham are already working hard behind the scenes to put squads in place for the 2014 season.
Uncertainty about the make-up of next year’s fixture lists, with doubts expressed about the immediate future of the Northern Rail Cup, has given clubs in the two Championship divisions an administrative headache with some close-season jobs having to be put on hold.
Squad building, though, is clearly unaffected, the Roughyeds having already signed up a nucleus of next season’s group, including many who have been retained on new contract agreements.
Unlike last season, when freshly-appointed coaches Scott Naylor and Lee Spencer put together a young and untried squad which comprised of mainly newcomers, Oldham will be much better placed to get off to a flying start in 2014 because coaches and most of the players are already in place and ready for the start of pre-season training in three weeks time.
This time last year Naylor had just arrived to find only one player on the books — the now retired Neil Roden. He had still to appoint Spencer as his No 2 and then start the long and laborious task of building a squad.
“This year we’re miles in front and that is bound to stand us in good stead,” said Naylor, who already has the best part of a full team under contract.
Of the 16 already signed, sealed and delivered, there are three newcomers in prop Paddy Rooney, a young front-rower from London Broncos academy; half-back Brett Robinson from Oxford; and hooker or half-back Danny Whitmore, who returns to Whitebank after a season with Batley Bulldogs.
Said Naylor: “With a bit of luck they won’t be the last of the new boys. Hopefully, there will be others to come. They will add quality to the squad and they will fit in nicely with the players who have re-signed from last season and who I believe are a very special group of young men.
“Lee Spencer (assistant coach) and I have ideas and philosophies which we firmly believe in and which our players need to buy into, as most of them have done.
“Some players left during the course of last season and that was because they didn’t fit into the pattern of what the Oldham club stands for.
“Roughyeds players are not a spoilt lot by any means, but quality people work for the club behind the scenes and together those people try to make things easy for the players so they can do their best on game day.
“We’ve already got a good nucleus signed on and in anticipation of others to follow I’m more confident about next season than I ever was about 2013.”
Signings announced so far:
Forwards: Phil Joy, Danny Langtree, Sam Gee, Josh Crowley, Michael Ward, Paddy Mooney, Danny Whitmore, Jason Boults, Liam Thompson, Mark Hobson.
Backs: David Cookson, Mo Agoro, Dale Bloomfield, Brett Robinson, Lewis Palfrey, Tom Whitehead.
Meanwhile, Neil Roden, who has retired after scoring 113 tries in 296 games over 11 seasons in two spells with Roughyeds, has been granted a testimonial by the Rugby League. It will run for a calendar year, starting on January 1, 2014. Roden is expected to be offered a backroom role at the club for the 2014 season.
Phil Joy (21), the young prop, was boss Naylor’s 2013 player of the year. Skipper Lewis Palfrey was the fans’ choice while full-back Richard Lepori was players’ player of the year, as voted by his dressing room peers.
