Last Sunday’s scoreline against the full-time professionals of London Broncos did no justice whatsoever to the effort, determination and commitment put in by an Oldham team that really could not have given more.

A bit of tiredness in the last few minutes was our undoing and at 20-18 at that point I don’t think there was anybody in the ground who did not think we were good value for that lead.

As they say though, the rest is history and in the record books it simply goes down as another loss in our current run of fixtures.

There is no doubting though, that the improvement in the team was again massive and the win is just around the corner... hopefully this weekend.

Brian McDermott has been impressed with the players’ desire to work even harder and to take on board what he has asked of them to date.

It is time for the lads to get the reward for that extra effort against Swinton.

Yesterday saw the announcement that the Rugby League World Cup has been postponed until 2022.

What a disappointment that is for everybody. The promotion of the tournament to date had been nothing short of fantastic, with commercial and ticket sales going way beyond the targets set.

That, coupled with unprecedented government support would have meant this was to be the biggest and best World Cup ever.

The withdrawal of the Aussies and Kiwis smacks of nothing more than self-interest for their own NRL competition which they see as bigger than the international game.

For me I would have liked to have seen it still go ahead so we could send a very strong message to those on the other side of the world, but I am also conscious of the compelling broadcast and commercial difficulties that would have presented. So, in the end, it probably was a non-decision – something the Australians and New Zealanders already knew.

Given the extraordinary lengths the tournament organisers were prepared to go to in order to ensure the safety of players and officials it makes no sense, but it is impossible to work with a gun to your head.

Back to Roughyeds and we hope to see a lot of you at Heywood Road on Sunday.

The team is desperate to give you that win and as always you can play your part in that. Get behind the lads as you have done and who knows what could happen.