Sean Long is excited to see how his side match up against a Wigan Warriors team he believes are the ‘best in the world’ at present. Oldham are preparing for the start of the Championship campaign after winning promotion from League One at a canter last time around.
They’ve recruited some eye catching names with the likes of Josh Drinkwater, Matty Ashurst and Gil Dudson making the move to Boundary Park and they’ll be in action twice over pre-season before their first competitive clash in the second round of the Challenge Cup.
Their first friendly will be played against local rivals Rochdale Hornets on January 12 before they play host quadruple winners Wigan on the 19th. Of course, it seems unlikely that Matt Peet will name his strongest 17 for that friendly, but the game promises to be an intriguing one for Long nonetheless as he looks to gauge his side’s progress and preparations ahead of the new season.
“It’s a good challenge for us. I wanted it, to play against the best team in the world at the moment, it’s going to be a great challenge,” Long said on Oldham’s The Boundary Line. “They’ve set the bar and it will be good for our lads to have a dig. I don’t think they’ll play a full team but you know the Wigan standards what they have at their club, whoever goes on that field will be ripping in.
“It’s going to be a tough fixture and I wanted that, it makes you battle hardened going into the next game which albeit may be against an amateur team, but going into this season that’s where we can get some stuff done and then learn from it.”
The friendly has been organised as part of the deal that took George Hirst to Wigan Warriors from the Roughyeds over the off-season. Hirst is expected to spend the season loan with Oldham but he’ll get a run out in the colours of Wigan on the 19th, Long has confirmed.
“He’s playing for Wigan,” he added. “The lads know George, we went down to see him the other day and he’s in good shape.”
