Naylor concerned about Oldham

Oldham coach Scott Naylor has acknowledged that his team still have much work to do ahead of the 2017 season, after the Roughyeds were beaten by Rochdale in a preseason friendly at the weekend.

Oldham lost the game at Bower Fold 24-12, and Naylor knows that much work is still needed if the Roughyeds are to start the season well.

“Rochdale deserved their win. They were more aggressive and smarter than we were. Congratulations to their players and coaching staff,” said Naylor.

“As a group it’s our first Law Cup loss in five years together so we have to take it on the chin.

“In each of our three warm-up games we’ve not played the way I wanted us to play. We’ve played the wrong way.

“That can only mean one thing – we (coaching staff) are not getting our message across so we’ll have to adopt new ways of getting it across.

“It’s a simple fix, but we need 17 players to learn quickly how to do the right things at the right time.

“We’ve got a good squad made up of good lads who I believe in, but they need to believe a little bit more in what we are trying to do and play the way I want them to play.”