OLDHAM have confirmed the signing of experienced Super League and England forward Adam Milner on a two-year deal.
The 32-year-old arrives from Huddersfield Giants as Roughyeds head coach Sean Long steps up his exciting squad-building plans for the club’s return to the Betfred Championship in the New Year.
Having made 301 appearances for Castleford Tigers, Milner earned his England debut in 2018 against France and went on to play twice in the series against New Zealand.
His move from Huddersfield sees the loose forward or hooker follow Salford prop Gil Dudson as the second big-name arrival at Boundary Park since the Roughyeds lifted the League One title earlier this month.
And in his exclusive first interview as an Oldham player, Milner told Roughyeds TV that it was his hunger for success that prompted the move: “I see myself as a winner and I want to be winning games and being competitive. The last two years I have been at two clubs who have not been competing which has been pretty disappointing. I now want to have success at this great club,” he said.
It will be enjoyable to rack Sean Long’s brain and see what is going on in there! He has been one of the greatest 7s in Super League so to have his knowledge and to understand how he works as a coach will be good for me, as in the future I would like to go down that route as well.
I pride myself on working hard and have been tough all my career. I will never take a backward step and if I can bring that to this club in the Championship then we will do alright and hopefully we can have some success here.”
Long believes Milner’s arrival will raise the bar within his squad as the players step up to the next level after promotion.
“He’s really excited to be on our journey, a great bloke who is honest and humble,” said Long.
He is a great leader who brings the experience of playing in Super League and he will set the standards even higher from where we were in League One. That is exactly what we need going forwards, it is a massive coup for us.”
Equally at home playing at hooker or loose forward, Milner has revealed how Oldham’s current number nine has been key to his own move to Boundary Park.
“Credit to one of your existing players here Matty Wildie – I’m best mates with him and it came from a conversation in my garden. He asked me what I was doing and told me to come and play at Oldham with him. So I spoke to Mike Ford who told me about the ambitions of the club and I wanted to be part of the journey to take this club to some new heights.
It is an exciting challenge and I’m looking forward to taking this club forward. Matty has told me about the ambition of the club, the stadium, the fans coming out in the numbers, the great pitch and it has all been positive.
I know the club is signing some good, experienced Super League players. I’m certainly not coming here just for a holiday and to finish my career off. I want to be successful and I want to win, which I have not done in the last two years. If I can bring that winning mentality to this group of players and to this this town then I am sure we will be in a good place at the end of the year.”
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