No job too big for Liam

Liam Thompson . . . regularly leads the tackle count.

WHILE flashier players get the headlines, Liam Thompson’s name is regularly one of the first to go up on Oldham’s team sheet.

A shoulder injury held him back in 2013 - his first season with Roughyeds - and a year later he suffered a double fracture of the cheekbone in a clash of heads with Kenny Hughes that kept him sidelined for nearly three months.

But this could be his year - such is the tremendous influence he has had already this season helping to guide Roughyeds unbeaten to the top of the league.

The 23-year-old former Wigan Warriors youngster, who captained England at schoolboy level, has made the Roughyeds’ loose-forward job his own with a series of top-notch displays.

Thompson can again be relied on to organise from the front when Gloucester All Golds come to Whitebank on Sunday (3pm). The visitors face the massive task of ending the home side’s two-year unbeaten run in 18 home league matches.

“Much of his work goes unnoticed, but he’s an integral part of everything we do — the sort of player whose work is most appreciated by his teammates,” said coach Scott Naylor.

One man who will fancy his chances of busting Oldham open on Sunday is Gloucester’s Callum Mulkeen, a former Rochdale Rugby Union player who once had a brief spell with Roughyeds’ reserves. He has scored five tries in four league games and is said to be in good form.

All Golds have beaten South Wales at home and London Skolars away, but have suffered home defeats by Rochdale and Swinton, the Lions putting 60 points past them in Cheltenham last Sunday.