Twenty four hours before deadline signing day, we have completed the capture on loan of a young, play-anywhere back from Widnes Vikings whom assistant coach Brendan Sheridan describes as a real coup.
Earlier today we announced the capture of 20-year-old Brad Jinks from Waterhead and formerly Castleford Tigers and now we are delighted to confirm the signing — initially on a two-week loan — of 22-year-old Lloyd Roby, who can play half-back, full-back, centre or wing.
“I’m pretty versatile. I can play anywhere in the backs. I have to say, if pressed, that my favourite position is probably full-back, but I’m trying to gain experience as a centre right now.
“To be honest, I’m happy wherever I play in the backs — even 6 or 7 — and I’m not one of those players who wants to play either on the left side or the right.
“I have no preference which side. I just want to play. I’ll be training at Oldham tomorrow and hopefully I’ll be in contention to play on Sunday at Swinton.”
We are indebted to an excellent profile on Lloyd which appears on the Vikings website.
Born in Warrington, he played his junior rugby with Crosfields and Rylands Sharks before joining the Vikings scholarship at the age of 14.
While completing a BTEC National Diploma in Sport, Lloyd continued to progress through the ranks and made his senior debut for Widnes in a Challenge Cup tie against his hometown club, Warrington Wolves, in 2017.
Having recovered from a knee injury sustained in 2018, he made a strong return to first-team action in 2019 with 14 tries in 23 games.
His ambition is to command a regular place in the Vikings side and to help the club get back into Super League.
His career record at December 30, 2020 was 15 tries in 30 appearances.
He added:
“It’s about three weeks since I’ve played, but I’ve been training regularly, I’m ready to go and I see my loan move to Oldham as a big opportunity to advance my career. I’m really looking forward to it and, as I say, I’m not bothered where I am asked to play in the backs.
“I’ll just have to see where my versatility takes me.”
A delighted Brendan Sheridan said:
“Lloyd’s is a quality signing – a real coup pulled off by Chris.
“He’s a quality lad who can operate anywhere for us in the backs and we know he’ll be a great addition to our outside backs.”
And we haven’t finished there . . . we’ll have another one tomorrow.
