Neil Jukes tasted defeat at the hands of Batley Bulldogs in his first game in charge of Leigh Centurions, and this week the Centurions face fellow Lancastrians Oldham.
“There were no surprises whatsoever,” he said. “We spoke about defending their good ball and their short side plays. Their kicks were a big danger and those two areas hurt us throughout and that’s what’s probably most disappointing. I think it’s the simple things that we didn’t do great.
“We’ve just got to work together. For every team we play, it’s going to be a Grand Final. Every neutral probably wants us to lose, which is fine, but we have to deal with it, keep it simple – play direct and when we do that we give ourselves a chance.”
Despite losing 22-0 at home to London Broncos, Oldham coach Scott Naylor saw many positives in his team’s performance.
“We played against a full-time team who are aiming to be in the top four and after 50 minutes it was 4-0. The lads had a real go at them,” he said.
“At present it’s a learning curve for my team. We had a good go at London last week and we could have easily scored two or three tries. To keep them to four tries and match them in a lot of areas, I was actually very pleased with what they did, there were a lot of positives to come out of it.
“I’m expecting Leigh to be absolutely at it this week. One of the worst things to come out of them getting beat is they’ll be ready this week and desperate to win under their new coach.
“We worked on some stuff this week that we weren’t happy with in the London game, we’ve got to put those things right and see what happens.”
Half-back Danny Grimshaw could be available for Oldham this week.
