Salford and Oldham confirm dual-registration partnership

Salford Red Devils and Oldham have confirmed that they have linked up as dual-registration partners for the 2018 campaign.

The partnership will see Salford players, who aren’t playing for the Red Devils first team on a particular weekend, to play for the Roughyeds in League 1.

It is unlikely but the link could also see Oldham players represent Salford in Super League.

Ian Watson, Salford coach, said: “I’m happy we’ve got Oldham on board as our dual-registration partner for the 2018 season.

“Oldham are a great club and it will give some of our players a chance to play rugby when they aren’t in our squad which is key to keeping players fit and developing as athletes.

“Of course, Oldham is a lot closer for the majority of our lads which will make it easy for us to work with them and Scott Naylor is a brilliant coach who I’ve known for a long time and played with throughout my career and I’m looking forward to working with him this year.”

Scott Naylor, Oldham coach, said: “I’m excited for several reasons about this dual-registration with one of my former clubs.

“To start with, we’re not far away from Salford and that’s got to be a help.

“Secondly, I’ve known Ian Watson for a long, long time. We played together. We go back years, and that’s important in itself. Ian Blease (Red Devils CEO) is also a good friend of mine.

“Myself and ‘Watto’ (Ian Watson) are in total agreement about what we both want out of this dual-reg agreement. It’s going to be an important part of our season in our quest to get promotion and get back into the Championship.

“Dual-reg didn’t really work for us last year, but I’m confident this link with Salford will make us a lot stronger and give us really good options, especially come the end of the season when we get to the play-offs.”