SALFORD 0 OLDHAM 44
KASEY SMITH, CorpAcq Stadium, Friday
OLDHAM kicked off 2026 with a resounding win, getting the better of revitalised Salford after the Red Devils were liquidated at the end of last year.
Salford have made remarkable progress since being granted permission to compete at the end of last month.
The phoenix side had only a handful of training sessions to prepare for a clash with one of the competition’s favourites, yet played with real enthusiasm and more than held their own for long spells.
New signing Brad Dwyer, who only arrived on Thursday, was the stand-out for the home side, often troubling the Oldham defence with a series of cleverly-weighted grubbers.
Two stands at the CorpAcq stadium were packed out, including a sizeable Roughyeds contingent, to witness the resurrection of the Salford club.
Opponents Oldham, however, were unfazed by the raucous atmosphere, striking early to quell any early-season nerves.
There were four debutants in the Roughyeds side, with two of the three Aussies signed in the off-season – Cole Geyer and Jaron Purcell – featuring alongside Jake Bibby and Tom Nisbet.
Geyer in particular made his stamp on the Roughyeds side with darts from dummy-half.
A notable weakness in the Roughyeds’ side last season was their vulnerability out wide to long balls, but in Bibby and Nisbet they may have found the answer. Both were defensively assured and posed a consistent threat going forward, each capping their performance with a try.
It was the perfect start for Oldham, stemming from a deft Josh Drinkwater grubber which Salford failed to deal with. Deep in opposition territory, Ben O’Keefe forced his way through on the right edge for the opening score, and Kieran Dixon added the first of six goals.
That flank was an area of particular focus for Oldham and it paid off a second time, shortly after, with Ted Chapelhow this time flattening his Salford opponent to crash over for a 12-0 lead in as many minutes.
It was wave after wave of Oldham pressure and their third came just after the first quarter. Roughyeds orchestrated a perfect shift to set Nisbet away for a debut try and a 16-0 lead, after Dixon missed his first attempt.
A lengthy stoppage followed towards the end of the first half while a spectator was treated in the stands, with the game suspended for almost half an hour as a result.
Oldham didn’t score again until ten minutes after the break through clever work from Nisbet offloading to Dixon, well inside his own half, who shot off like a bullet, with Riley Dean supporting to score under the posts for a 22-0 lead after Dixon converted.
With Salford visibly tiring, Oldham struck again. A looping pass out to Bibby allowed him the time and space to power through in the corner. Dixon was unable to nail the difficult conversion.
Having just been introduced on the field, Geyer shot out of dummy-half, exposing big gaps in the Salford defence. Supporting was Ben Davies, who handed back onto Geyer as he scored under the posts.
Owen Farnworth added insult to injury, minutes later, when his run proved too powerful to stop close to the line as he scored Oldham’s seventh of the evening.
Ryan Lannon put the cherry on the cake when he set off to make it 44-0 after being played in by a Dean no-look pass to top off a great start to the Roughyeds’ campaign and leave Salford with no doubt as to the size of the task ahead to compete in the Championship.
GAMESTAR: Operating at fullback, in place of Jack Walker, Kieran Dixon regularly showed up alongside his team-mates with supporting runs.
GAMEBREAKER: Dixon’s line-break, inside his own half, which resulted in a Riley Dean try gave Salford too big a hill to climb.
MATCHFACTS
SALFORD
30 Will Brough
18 Rafael Van Osselaer
23 Noah Appleby
20 Joe Hartley
2 Sam Hill
29 Toby Hughes
27 Matty Ross
33 Oliver Polec
14 Finley Yates
15 Will Tilleke
11 Liam Cooper
12 Oliver Garmston
13 Charlie Glover
Subs (all used)
9 Brad Dwyer
32 Ryan Brown
31 Nathan Wilde
26 Reece Stanton
OLDHAM
2 Kieran Dixon
21 Tom Nisbet
3 Ben O’Keefe
4 Ben Davies
5 Jake Bibby
23 Josh Drinkwater
7 Riley Dean
10 Owen Farnworth
9 Matty Wildie
15 Ted Chapelhow
11 Matty Ashurst
12 Ryan Lannon
13 Adam Milner
Subs (all used)
14 Cole Geyer
8 Jack Ormondroyd
19 Harvey Makin
18 Jaron Purcell
Tries: O’Keefe (4), Chapelhow (8), Nisbet (22), Dean (54), Bibby (61), Geyer (68), Farnworth (71), Lannon (80)
Goals: Dixon 6/8
SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-6, 0-12, 0-16; 0-22, 0-26, 0-32, 0-38, 0-44
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Salford: Brad Dwyer; Oldham: Kieran Dixon
Penalty count: 3-6
Half-time: 0-16
Referee: Aaron Moore