I hadn't realised that.
That's quite a team for Oldham.

Toby B seems to have a decent pair of hands.
Anyone know why Thornley didn't play, can't recall seeing him in the warm up.

Oldham have clearly had an influx of new money but they are also in a strong position geographically. With Leigh now established in SL, there are no other teams in the Championship or L1 on that side of the pennines that can offer half-decent salaries for top-end Championship-quality players.

Widnes in particular seem still not to be in a financial position to recruit much quality and it's no accident that the likes of Craven, Lawton and Farnworth - who were probably some of their higher-paid players - were lured to a L1 club.

Moreover, when Fev launched their big cutback at the end of last season, two of the bigger earners, Craig Kopczak and Elijah Taylor, were both obvious targets for Oldham as they both live in Lancashire and avoiding the M62 trek would always play strongly in Oldham's favour. Similarly when Joe Wardle was released by Leigh and Logan Astley by Wigan, there wasn't really another obvious destination for him other than Oldham - it will be the same next season you suspect, anyone released by Leigh/Wigan/Saints/Warrington who doesn't get another SL offer is likely to end up at Oldham especially if as seems certain they are in the Championship.

Leigh had a big advantage for years when they were in the Championship with being the only game in town for players not quite good enough or too old to get a SL gig and now it's Oldham who are in that position.

Quote: Shifty Cat "I Wouldn't be that surprised to see Oldham turn them over tbh, they've looked good so far and have a decent Championship standard side together. I bet it'll be a close battle between those 2 for the semi-place. Sean Long's got them playing well and they've got some good quality players in that side with lots of SL experience, from Kopczak to Wildie, Jordan Turner, Danny Craven,Jamie Ellis, Joe Wardle, Elijah Taylor etc. I was surprised when I read the side the other day how decent it is, especially as they're playing in League One. Which they should walk. I think the bookies have them down behind us as 2nd favs for the Cup. So we'll see.'" Bradford are playing Swinton, not Oldham as they've got York https://www.rlfans.com/index.php?id=3396

Quote: Shifty Cat "I Wouldn't be that surprised to see Oldham turn them over tbh, they've looked good so far and have a decent Championship standard side together. I bet it'll be a close battle between those 2 for the semi-place. Sean Long's got them playing well and they've got some good quality players in that side with lots of SL experience, from Kopczak to Wildie, Jordan Turner, Danny Craven,Jamie Ellis, Joe Wardle, Elijah Taylor etc. I was surprised when I read the side the other day how decent it is, especially as they're playing in League One. Which they should walk. I think the bookies have them down behind us as 2nd favs for the Cup. So we'll see.'" Bradford are playing Swinton, not Oldham as they've got York https://www.rlfans.com/index.php?id=3396

All yesterday's tries now on YT... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8mT-3e ... eldTrinity

All yesterday's tries now on YT... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8mT-3e ... eldTrinity

They went to barrow in cup and won which isnt the easiest place to go

Any idea of Sundays attendance?

1370

It was announced, but me and my memory, I think that it was around 1300, but don't quote me on that!
Good to see the contingent of Newcastle supporters, backing their club at an away, home match.

RWB beat me to it!
At least my memory aint too bad, except when it's my round.

Thanks, probably a bit disappointing from Newcastle pov considering we've 5k STs. Still a lot more funds raised that had it been up there.

Some are probably getting a bit punch drunk with walkovers.

Interestingly enough, i paid for my ticket by contactless at the gate and it has appeared on my statement as "Newcastle Thunder" so good on Fev for giving 100% of contactless sales to Newcastle (hope they did something similar with the cash payments), hopefully they have made £10-15k on the day as a lot of people were buying up the kit on sale, which again I bought a couple of bits contactless and it showed on my statement as "Newcastle Thunder"