Jones ruled out of Knights clash

Oldham back-row forward Adam Jones. Picture courtesy of Dave Naylor

Back-row forward Adam Jones, who suffered a concussion in the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup win over Featherstone Lions, is out of Sunday’s big Betfred League 1 clash with York City Knights at the Vestacare Stadium (3pm kick-off).

York have invested substantially in their 24-man squad for 2018 and with Ben Cockayne and Graeme Horne in their starting line-up, not to mention dual-reg reinforcements from Hull KR plus on-loan Aussie winger Kieren Moss from Hull KR, and they were unlucky not to beat red-hot title favourites Bradford Bulls on the opening day of the league campaign.

They went down 22-20 to a last-gap Joe Keys penalty goal from half-way after the final hooter had sounded, but many neutrals, including Roughyeds boss Scott Naylor, felt they deserved to win.

“Make no mistake, York are a VERY good side,” said the Oldham boss. “I’ve watched their game against Bradford and they should have won.

“They are not the York of old. They’ve got loads of experience as well as some very good younger players, so it’s going to be a really tough game on Sunday.

“They’ll definitely be up there at the end of the season and although the season is still in its infancy and it will be our first home league game it will be a very important encounter, just like the one we had up at Whitehaven last month.”

Since the Bradford game, the Knights have strengthened even further with the recruitment on loan of Huddersfield Giants forward Colton Roche, who will almost certainly be making his debut at Oldham.

It's been the second time in 12 months that Jones suffered concussion, and under current regulations he must now see a specialist before he can play again.

Naylor explained that he was expected to have that appointment last week, but it was put back to next Monday which means he will not be available for selection this week.

Meanwhile, fans are reminded that the Roughyeds office inside the ground at the Vestacare Stadium is open from 9.30am to 3pm each day this week up to and including Friday for the collection of season tickets and for the sale and/or collection of replica jerseys and other leisure wear.

Also on sale (£12.95) is the new book by Craig Halstead, “Roughyeds - Against All the Odds”, which tells the story of the first 20 years of Oldham RLFC (1997) Ltd through the memories and recollections of players, officials and fans.