18/01/2025
CONGRATS to George Riley on his latest interview from Robin Park in Wigan with Matty Peet and Sean Long.
We learned a lot about Sean, our new head coach, some of which we knew already, some we didn't. We learned that, as a senior coach these days, Sean Long is no longer the maverick, wayward lad he was in his playing days; that he is his own man; that he has his finger on the pulse of the game's Great and the Good; that he has time for players who make mistakes; that he can't tolerate a lack of effort or commitment; that he ALWAYS demands hard work from his players but knows the value of fun.
Can he become another Peet? Long made it clear in this intriguing and informative interview that he wants to be no one but himself, but for me it is interesting that he and Peet are mates, are from the same school of hard knocks in Wigan, and have the greatest respect for each other. There was clearly an affinity between the two of them and Peet has already shown that there is far more to this coaching lark than merely going though the motions.
There is a big difference between the two in that Peet never broke any pots as a player while Long was an absolute cracker, an exceptionally talented half-back, one of the best players we have ever seen, who won the Lance Todd trophy a record three times.
His playing days were a thing of the past, however, as soon as he stopped playing. Try to talk to him now about those days and he doesn't really want to know. He'll talk all day to anyone about coaching and he clearly sees that, as opposed to his playing days, as the barometer of his success in his chosen sport.
So much about Long is similar to Peet. Congrats to Wigan for recognising the skills of a man who wasn't a big-name player and, by way of a contrast, congrats to Bill Quinn and Mike Ford for appointing a man who was brought up in a similar environment and in the same town.
Long is eight years older but both were brought up in Wigan (Long still lives there) and he clearly has a lot of time for and is a great friend of Peet, their mutual respect having a lot to do with George Hirst's smooth transfer to Wigan and consequently the visit of the greatest club side in the world to Boundary Park on Sunday.
Oldham fans have had to endure a particularly long close season, but they are now on the threshold of a feast of rugby league in the town, starting with mighty Wigan on Sunday, then derby rivals Rochdale Hornets ln the re-arranged Law Cup humdinger on Wednesday, followed by another Boundary Park spectacular next Sunday, January 26, when we are at Boundary Park again for the third game in eight days against Rochdale Mayfield in the Challenge Cup.
At this extremely busy and hazardous time of year weather-wise, Roughyeds are indeed fortunate to get THREE home games lined up in such a short space of time and that, says Mike Ford, proves that relations with Latics are first-class and better than ever.
"To give us the green light to play there three times in a week at this time of year is a sure sign that we are on the same wavelength," said Ford.
"Coupled with the agreement for Roughyeds to sell our club merchandise in the Latics shop, this shows without question that we are home-from-home here and that, stronger together, we can together put Oldham on the sporting map."