Former Super League forward Jack Ormondroyd has his eyes on the Championship Grand Final as he approaches the new season with Oldham.
The Roughyeds were one of the most impressive teams of the 2025 season as they stepped up from League One and made their presence felt in the second tier. However, despite finishing fourth in the league, their season came to an abrupt end in the first round of the play-offs when they were thumped 40-4 by Halifax Panthers.
Ormondroyd only spent the final couple of months with Oldham after making the switch from Salford Red Devils in August, but he’s determined to see the Roughyeds go a couple of steps further in 2026 and establish themselves as the dominant force beneath Super League.
That won’t be easy with London Broncos making a huge recruitment push with the likes of Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Siliva Havili and Dean Hawkins making the move over from the NRL as well as a raft of former Super League and Papua New Guinean stars.
Oldham are up to the challenge, though, and with the Roughyeds, who are still without a permanent head coach following the departure of Sean Long, returning for pre-season, Ormondroyd has laid out his expectations for the 2026 campaign.
Oldham man eyes Championship glory
“We have a great team here and I don’t think it is lack of effort – we just had a bad game against Halifax,” Ormondroyd told Roughyeds TV.
“The goal now is to have a good year again and get to those finals. Let’s not forget we had a really good year and the lads did brilliant to finish 4th. But I do think last year was disappointing.
“I came from a disappointing year at Salford into Oldham with all the hope that we were going to do big things. We did well in the league and won most of the games from when I came in, but then fell at the last hurdle. I want us to go one or two steps further next year and get to that final.
“We need to start well, start winning game and get that step further.
“This is a tough league, and I have played in the Championship before. We have lost Bradford, York and Toulouse but London have signed really well and there are loads of strong teams now. We are looking forward to the challenge.”
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