Massive test for Oldham

FRONT ROW SWITCH? . . . Jack Spencer

OLDHAM under Scott Naylor return to the scene of their greatest triumph on Sunday when they travel to Hull KR.

Rovers, now coached by former Kangaroos boss Tim Sheens, one of the biggest names in world rugby league, are odds-on favourites to take the Championship by storm, having been relegated from Super League at the end of last season.

To lose to Salford City Reds in the £1m game by a golden point extra-time drop-goal was a devastating blow for the men from East Hull.

As beaten Challenge Cup finalists in 2015, it was also a poke in the eye to crash on home soil to Naylor's Championship new boys in a fifth-round tie in mid-April.

The Roughyeds' 36-22 triumph in one of the Challenge Cup's biggest-ever upsets stunned the whole of rugby league.

Will Hope, Richard Lepori (two), Steve Roper, Adam Clay and Gary Middlehurst scored Oldham's tries, while Lewis Palfrey kicked six goals.

Of the side that threw the then Super League club into meltdown, Palfrey, Roper, Middlehurst, Hope and Adam Files are no longer at the club.

Rovers have also made changes, not least the appointment of former Australian national team boss Sheens as head coach.

With the Aussie in charge, a huge fan base and, compared with Oldham and several others in the Championship, vast wealth and riches at their disposal, anything other than an immediate return to Super League will be regarded as a failure at KCOM Craven Park.

Will Oldham feel the backlash of last year's famous Cup triumph on the same ground?

It won't be uppermost in Sheen's game-plan, but it's bound to be remembered by players and fans alike who won't want to suffer similar humiliation.

They've won their first three games against Bradford Bulls at home (54-24, attendance 8,817) and away at London Broncos (28-22) and Rochdale Hornets (28-18).

Oldham go as rank outsiders, and the injured Phil Joy's strength and power in the front row will be missed, but management and coaching staff are united in their belief that the current squad is better than last year's and has greater depth.

It will be put to the test on Humberside, from where few teams will return with any points this season.

Dual reg Tyler Dickinson, who has played many times for Oldham in the last two years, is in the Huddersfield Giants squad tonight so Naylor's men are already two props down without him and Joy.

Mikey Wood, another dual reg youngster from the Giants, couldn't play in the second row last week because of injury, but if he is now available that would enable Jack Spencer to move up to front row.

Nathan Mason, a third dual reg prop, was also unavailable last week due to injury.

Ben Davies and Liam Thompson might also figure in their first Championship games of the season, but the make-up of the pack, and the bench, will doubtless hinge on the availability of dual reg personnel.