WHILE his Oldham team-mates head to Barrow Raiders for a pre-season friendly against his former club tomorrow, Craig Briscoe will be sitting at home counting down the days until he undergoes surgery on a long-standing injury.

The 24-year-old second row, who spent two seasons at Craven Park before joining the Roughyeds after their promotion to the Kingstone Press Championship in 2015, is due to have his right knee reconstructed after missing a large part of last year due to the problem.

In a cruel twist of irony, the initial damage was done in last January’s friendly against Barrow. Then having been told he would not need surgery, his knee completely gave way moments after coming onto the field in the Championship clash with Workington Town in August.

Despite only being able to feature seven times for Oldham in 2016, Briscoe impressed head coach Scott Naylor enough to earn a contract for the upcoming season and that, coupled with his upcoming operation, means he can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel.

“With it happening straight away as well, for them to show a lot of faith in me, I can’t thank them enough for what they have done,” said Briscoe.

“It was against Barrow I did it initially, then I got the call to go again and then I think it was the second-to-last game when we played Workington in the Super Eights, and it just went. I was on the field for 30 seconds, if that.

“I’ve got my operation on January 25, so that’s something to look forward to and once that’s done, it’s just a case of getting back as quickly and as fit as possible.”

Briscoe’s two years with the Raiders, having initially joined on loan from Leigh Centurions, were somewhat contrasting. The first saw them relegated from the Championship in 2014, with the second seeing the start of the rebuilding process under returning head coach Paul Crarey.

The lure of Championship rugby, plus being closer to home and work, proved too strong for Briscoe to turn down when he was approached to join Oldham following their promotion back to the second tier at League One champions in 2015.

But he has fond memories of his time with Barrow and is impressed to see the club continuing to progress after reaching last year’s League One play-off final.

“That was probably the main reason for coming to Oldham – the fact that it was closer to home and the fact it was in a more competitive league, up in the Championship,” said Briscoe.

“I absolutely loved it (at Barrow). It was a really good set of lads and a really good club, even when I was there.

“Since I left, it’s gone even further on upwards and upwards, with only last year just missing out on coming up to the Championship. If not this year, then it’s going to be very, very soon.

“In 2014 we were still in the Championship, but unfortunately we were at the bottom end of it. The year after, I think it was the start of what’s happening now at the club. It’s on the up and Paul is doing a really good job.”

Oldham are a club seemingly on the up as well, having survived their first season back in the Championship after finishing three points clear of the relegation zone.

Briscoe is in no doubt the second tier is much more competitive than it used to be, with several full-time teams now in the mix along with the established part-time sides, and that consistency and composure are the keys to staying in the division.

What really caught his eye is the way the top Championship sides do the little things well – regardless of being full-time or part-time – and both him and his Oldham team-mates have taken on board plenty from last year’s encounters.

“For myself, I would love to get back for at least a couple of games towards the end of the season, but that’s being optimistic,” said Briscoe.

“As far as the club are concerned, last year was a bit of a learning curve for everybody, but this year the club is taking a different approach to where we’re going. It’s a lot more professional and we’ve taken a lot of experiences from last year.

“Last year, the main aim was just to stay up, but barring a couple of silly results – like at the Summer Bash when we were 20-0 up at half time against Swinton (and lost 25-24) – we could have even made the Championship Shield. But we set out to achieve staying up and we did.”