MACKENZIE Turner described the moment he secured a second promotion in the same year as “surreal”, following Hunslet’s 22-20 victory over Swinton last Sunday.
The Oldham winger, currently on loan at the South Leeds side, scored a length of the field try just before half time to kickstart an against-the-odds comeback against the championship side.
Turner is now in the unique position of having two promotion medals under his belt, having played his part in Oldham’s title-winning campaign earlier in the year.
“It is a bit of a surreal feeling to have been promoted twice,” he said, in an interview with The Oldham Times. “I don’t think many people have done that.
“It was nice getting a taste of winning it with Oldham and that made me want to do it again.
“We had a good play-off run and had some tough games in that. The wins over Rochdale and Keighley brought us closer together as a group and gave us confidence to go all the way.
“Nobody was backing us to do it either, which gave us that extra bit of motivation to cause the upset.”
Having defeated Keighley in the League One play-off final the week before, Hunslet travelled to championship side Swinton to determine the remaining spot in the second division.
The League One side found themselves 10-0 down inside the first quarter, but Turner’s try on 35 minutes helped Hunslet stage a miraculous comeback.
Commenting on the try, Turner said: “It was a bit of a split second one as the ball took a few deflections.
“It just ended up in my hands, and as soon as it did my thoughts were to get to the try line as quickly as I could. Players were closing in on me, but I just knew I was going to score.
“I haven’t had many opportunities to fully open up this year, obviously I was injured at the start of the year. To get that exposure was really good, I’ve been really enjoying myself.”
Turner made five appearances and scored twice for Oldham, before he was loaned to Hunslet on the registration deadline.
He has a year left to run on his contract with the Roughyeds but it is understood Hunslet would be keen to retain his services.
When asked about his future, Turner said he was “unsure” where he would be playing and confirmed he had not yet spoken to Oldham about what happens next.
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