IN OPPOSITION - OLDHAM RLFC

Newcastle Thunder renew rivalries with Oldham RLFC this weekend when they face each other for the first time since October 2019 in round 10 of the Betfred Championship at Kingston Park Stadium (KO 3:00pm)

Oldham head to the north east in search of a first win in five matches, whilst Thunder will return to their home paddock off the back of a heartening performance against the high-flying Bradford Bulls and a solid win last weekend against Swinton Lions

Last time out.

Oldham staged a brave, final quarter fightback at Bowler Fold as they very nearly overturned a 32-12 deficit with 20 minutes remaining, but ultimately fell short against Sheffield Eagles.

A low scoring first half saw Sheffield punish mistakes from the hosts to lead by eight at the break, before those arrears were reduced to just two shortly after the break.

Blitzing the hosts with three tries in six minutes, Sheffield looked to be comfortable, but Oldham dug deep to punish a red card to the visitors and set up a grandstand finish that only just came up short.

Key players

Dan Abram  - Fullback Abram joined Oldham from Rochdale in 2019 and played all six games in the aborted 2020 season for the club. An experienced player who has enjoyed spells at St Helens, Barrow, Whitehaven as well, Abram has made eight starts for Oldham this season, scoring 14 goals.

 Tommy Brierley – A capture from Dewsbury Rams, winger Brierly has been Oldham’s most potent source of tries in 2021 to date, with four to his name so far. A graduate of Leeds academy, he has played at York City Knights, Hunslet and Coventry and has been gradually rebuilding his career after suffering a serious injury back in 2017.

Danny Langtree – The longest serving member of the Oldham squad, Langtree has turned out more than 170 times and will have played a total of 12 years for the club by the end of his current deal. Scoring nearly 100 tries over his career, he is a well-known opponent for Thunder and will likely prove a key figure this Sunday.

Head Coach

Former Leeds Rhinos and Bradford Bulls hooker Matt Diskin is the man in charge at Oldham, having come on board as the successor to Scott Naylor at the start of the 2020 season.

As a player Diskin made 312 Super League appearances — 232 for Leeds between 2001 and 2010 and 80 for Bradford between 2011 and 2014 when he announced his retirement as a player.

At Odsal he cut his teeth in coaching with the under-19s and as an assistant on the first-team coaching panel.

He then took on his first head coach role at Championship club Batley Bulldogs where he signed a three-year deal which came to its conclusion at the end of 2019 season.

How to watch

Tickets for Sunday’s game are available to purchase up to midnight on Saturday 19th June and can be booked by visiting the Newcastle Thunder online box office by clicking here.

Priced at £20 for adults, £15 for concessions and £5 for Under 16s, tickets will be sent electronically to supporters via email.

For full details on how to buy tickets, including the need to assign each ticket to the supporter who will use it for the game, click here.