T'Other Side: Oldham

Head Coach: Sean Long

When Sean Long retired as a player at the end of the 2011 season, he took up a position as an assistant coach at Salford. But when, and where, did he actually take charge of a club as ‘head coach? The answer is May 2013 and the club was Featherstone Rovers. That year Daryl Powell left Fev to take on Castleford, and after a short period with Ryan Sheridan as caretaker coach after which he joined Daryl at Cas, Sean Long and Danny Evans took over the reins at Fev as joint caretaker coaches.

That was followed by further assistant coach roles at St. Helens, Harlequins RU and Leeds.

Finally, in 2024, he became the head coach at Oldham and the club gained promotion after winning 19 out of 20 League One fixtures.

Sean also has had experience of coaching at the international level as assistant coach with both Samoa and France.

His stellar playing career began with Wigan in 1994, and, along the way, he also played for Widnes, St. Helens and Hull FC. His overall club record consists of 374 appearances, 166 tries, 1,004 and 24 drop goals for a total of 2,696 points.

In addition, he played 16 times for Great Britain and 5 times for England.

 

Captain: Jordan Turner

Jordan Turner is primarily a back but has also played as a halfback and as a loose forward. His professional career began with Salford in 2006. From 2010 until 2012 he played for Hull FC and then he was at St. Helens (2013-16), Huddersfield (2017-20) and Castleford (2021-2023). He joined Oldham in 2024 and was immediately appointed as their captain.

He has also played for England Knights.

 

 

Dual Registration and Loan signings

 

Oldham have dual reg agreements with Wigan and Rochdale. So far, in 2025, three Wigan players have played for Oldham: Josh Cartwright (wing), Jacob Douglas (wing), Tom Forber (hooker), Nathan Lowe (wing) and Lukas Mason (second row). They also have Wigan player, George Hirst, on a season long loan.

Three Oldham players have appeared for Rochdale.

Without doubt, the most stunning bit of business Oldham have done is to gain Salford player Nene Macdonald on a 3-match loan but has now ended.

 

 

The Fev Connection

Amongst the list of players of who have played for both clubs are:

Joe Bardgett (back/fullback) began his career with Keighley in the 1980-81 season. The following year he moved to Carlisle who were starting their first season in the professional ranks. In 1983 Fev signed him as a replacement for Ken Kellett but he only managed to score 3 tries in 28 appearances and he went on loan to Oldham in March.

At the beginning of the 1984-85 season, he went back to Keighley where he stayed until the end of the 1989-90 season.

 

 

Craig Kopczak (prop) made his début as a 19-year-old with Bradford Bulls in 2006. It was a season in which Bradford won the World Club Challenge, but that match was before Craig made his début. He stayed with Bulls until the end of 2012 although he did have a short loan spell with Halifax in 2008.

After his time at Bradford, he had three years with Huddersfield Giants, followed by another three at Salford and then two at Wakefield Trinity.

In 2021 he joined Fev and in three seasons he made 51 appearances and scored 12 tries.

For 2024 he joined Oldham who were building a squad to win promotion from League One to the Championship which they did in fine style winning 19 of their 20 league games. Craig made a big contribution to that playing 20 games and scoring 4 tries. He was listed in the Oldham squad for 2025, but injury problems caused him to retire at the age of 37 before making any appearances.

He played 22 times for Wales which included three World Cups, the qualifiers in 2008 and the full tournaments in 2013 and 2017.

 

Featherstone born Billy Stott (scrumhalf) made his début for Fev in March 1930 at the age of 16. After five seasons with Rovers he signed for Broughton Rangers and then in 1938 he joined Oldham where he remained until 1944. During that time he also came back to Fev as a wartime ‘guest player’ in 1939-40 and 1943-44 bringing his total games for Fev to 108 and he scored 29 tries and 65 goals for a total of 217 points.

He joined Wakefield at the beginning of the 1944-45 season and then finished with Belle Vue Rangers (the same club as Broughton Rangers but with a changed name) in 1947-48.

While he was at Wakefield he became the very first winner of the Lance Todd Trophy in 1946 for his performance in their 13-12 win against Wigan in the Challenge Cup Final.

Billy Stott also played for Yorkshire and England.