Oldham skipper Palfrey is league points hero

Lewis Palfrey: leading the league

LEWIS Palfrey’s 11 goals and three tries at Hemel confirmed his status as the most prolific scorer in Kingstone Press League One.

The 25-year-old Oldham captain will lead his side into battle at Newcastle on Sunday having kicked more goals (91) and amassed more points (227) than any other player.

Barrow’s Josh Ward is second with 78 goals and Paul Crook of Rochdale is Palfrey’s nearest points challenger with 185. Taking the sport as a whole, only Martyn Ridyard of Leigh Centurions has landed more goals (143-112), four more than Ryan Shaw of Bradford Bulls and 10 more than Kevin Sinfield of Leeds Rhinos.

Palfrey says it’s a “pleasure and a privilege” to captain an Oldham team that tops the division with four points to spare and can boast by far the longest winning run of the 38 clubs in Super League, Championship and League One. Halifax’s 14-0 defeat by Widnes Vikings in round one of the Super 8s (Qualifiers) ended their nine-game winning streak and left Roughyeds, who will be going for 10 wins this weekend, way out in front, followed by League One rivals Swinton (six) and York (five).

Scott Naylor’s men have amassed 680 points, more than any other side in the division - despite coach Scott Naylor’s insistence that defence will determine where Oldham finish.

Palfrey is regarded more as a maker of tries than a scorer of them, but his hat-trick at Hemel took his overall total for the season so far to 11 — more than he scored in 2013 and 2014 put together.

In terms of club records for points in a season, Palfrey’s 269 to date has already beaten Andy Ballard’s 254 in 2009, but he still trails Mick Nanyn, the reborn Oldham club’s record holder with 362 in 2008 and Pat Rich, who finished with 320 in 2001.