Third from bottom? Not good enough!

IMPROVEMENT is the watchword from Oldham head coach Scott Naylor as the club gears up for a second season in the Kingstone Press Championship.

Rugby league's second tier will be tougher than ever this year, but as the Roughyeds put their final preparations in place for Sunday's Bower Fold opener against Sheffield Eagles, Naylor, who is on the cusp of a fifth season in charge, has higher hopes for a team who finished just outside the drop zone in 2016.

He said: "I think we would have taken third-from-bottom before last season, but our aspirations for this year are just to be better.

"If we're better in all areas - including staff, players, medical-wise and conditioning - then the results should be better in theory.

"Would I take third-from-bottom this season? No, I definitely wouldn't be happy with that.

"Would I take fourth-from-bottom? Maybe that would be a start.

"Look at us last year. We beat Featherstone and Batley, teams who finished in the top four, but then we got beat by Workington and Whitehaven, sides who were relegated.

"Consistency, therefore, is maybe the biggest thing this year.

"We're not going to get away with getting beat by teams we think we should beat. We need to be playing at a good level every week.

"If we can just keep improving every week, then we're all doing good jobs and that's what I want to see."

Naylor clearly gleaned much from last term's efforts following promotion from League One the previous autumn.

"We have to look on last season as a success," Naylor added.

"Staying in the division as a newly-promoted team was good, but it was also a big learning curve.

"Being in the higher division, after spending so many seasons in League One, will help us this time.

"As a group of people that experience will make a huge difference."