DESPITE technically still in pre-season, club captain Jordan Turner sees Sunday’s Law Cup at the Crown Oil Arena as the start of Oldham’s 2024 campaign, writes Kasey Smith.

Oldham-born Turner, also player-coach, highlighted the importance of the game this weekend and expressed his pride in the opportunity to defend the trophy.

“It’s a great occasion for anyone that is an Oldham fan or has any history with Oldham,” he explained. “It’s something I’m really looking forward to; I’ve been to lots of Law Cup games over the years but never really had the privilege of playing in one, so I’m excited for this Sunday.

“We see this game as the start of our season, and to bring home some silverware and defend the trophy would be a great start. It would mean an awful lot to me as captain of Oldham.”

After sweeping away promotion rivals Keighley Cougars with a 46-10 victory on Boxing Day, Oldham will be looking to build on their early pre-season success with another victory against neighbours Rochdale, ahead of the 1895 Cup getting underway a week later.

With a chance of silverware, this Sunday’s Law Cup provides a great chance for Roughyeds to hit the ground running when they take on championship high-flyers Halifax Panthers on January 28 at Boundary Park.

Last year, Roughyeds snatched victory with two last-gasp tries in the final five minutes, and if recent history is anything to go by, the game may well be a hotly-contested one.

Oldham go into the game as heavy favourites having strengthened heavily, but the former Super League Grand Final winner is not taking anything for granted.

“We’re a new side coming together and have big aspirations this year; we want to put our best foot forward and it will be great to get one over on our local rivals,” said Turner.

“We need to make sure we don’t get carried away because Rochdale will come and give us a good crack as well. We’ve got to be well prepared because there’s several ex-Oldham players in their squad who will be looking to get one over on us.”