Joy’s division

POWERHOUSE . . . Phil Joy says Oldham are learning fast in the Championship.

PHIL Joy believes Oldham will go from strength to strength as the Championship season unfolds - thanks to quality coaching, a collective willingness to learn from mistakes and a team spirit second to none.

In the first four of 30 second-tier games that will determine whether Roughyeds stay up of quickly drop back, local lad Joy has shown he can hack it with the big boys.

Oldham’s go-forward prop isn’t on his own. And with Scott Naylor, Lee Spencer and Peter Carey to push them in the right direction, he says the squad has grown in confidence and self-belief from performances against London Broncos, Leigh Centurions, Dewsbury Rams and Featherstone Rovers.

Speaking ahead of Sunday’s visit of leaders Bradford Bulls to Bower Fold (3pm), Joy said: “We were bitterly disappointed last week because we felt we could, and perhaps should, have won at Featherstone. We had a great start in beating Dewsbury, but a very poor one at Featherstone. We can’t put our finger on why. Maybe, as Scott said, we showed them too much respect early on.

“The main thing is, we’ll learn from that going into the Bradford game.

“We’ve learned a lot already this season, and we’re still learning. Even though we’ve only won one out of four, we’ve been more competitive than some people would have given us credit for.

“I’d say the jump from League One to Championship rugby is bigger than the difference between playing full-time and part-time opponents. That’s how I’ve found it, anyway.

“As for this weekend, they don’t come much tougher than Bradford. But all the lads are up for it and if we play to the best of our ability there’s no reason why we can’t come away with a positive result.

“Win or lose, though, we are starting to feel we will comfortably stay up - and perhaps cause a few surprises.”


BRADFORD’S remarkable fightback against Leigh Centurions last week, when they drew 32-32 after trailing 32-4, means they come to Stalybridge as the only unbeaten side in the competition.

They won only one of their last five league games last year to finish second to Leigh in the regular Championship season — their first after relegation from Super League.

In the Super 8s they fared better than the other three Championship sides, getting to within 80 minutes of a Super League return only to lose 24-16 to Wakefield Trinity Wildcats in the aptly-called ‘Million Pound’ game.

Nine of the players who figured in that game were also on duty last Sunday against Leigh, including the 2015 Championship player of the year, stand-off Lee Gaskell.

It’s more than 12 years since Scott Naylor played in the great Bradford teams that monopolised the sport’s honours board, but Sunday is sure to stir memories for the Oldham coach, who played in 128 Super League games for them, including two Grand Finals at Old Trafford.

He was also a Bull in Challenge Cup finals at Murrayfield, Twickenham and the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, while Wembley was being rebuilt.