Head coach Paul Crarey is still expecting Oldham to be a tough physical challenge for his side, despite Barrow Raiders’ first pre-season opponents undergoing a change of regime over the winter.

Scott Naylor’s parting gift to the Roughyeds was to guide them to promotion to the Betfred Championship, with their play-off victory over Newcastle Thunder bringing to an end his seven-year reign.

It means they and Barrow have swapped divisions since they met at this stage of pre-season last year, when they ran out 24-10 winners at Craven Park.

Oldham are now under the guidance of former Leeds and Bradford hooker Matt Diskin, who had previously been in charge of Batley Bulldogs for the last three seasons.

Crarey said: “We’ve had a couple of little knocks and we’ve run with no nine for a few weeks, so we’re probably a little bit disjointed and like a box of chocolates because we don’t know what we’re going to get until we take to the field.

“I know Oldham have brought in about eight or nine Championship players and they were a threat last year in League One, when they beat us in a friendly.

“They’re alway tenacious because they have players who can defend real narrow, which early on when the grounds are heavy helps them a lot.

“Whether they’ve got that with the new coach, Diskin, I don’t know, but they’ve got Lewis [Charnock], who is a very fierce competitor as well.

“We’re just looking forward to it - it’s a funny sort of game, straight after Christmas, because it’s very close to the New Year, so nobody is going to be at their best and the ground’s a bit heavy.

“It will be a slog out there, but I think that’s what you need to blow the cobwebs away.”