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BY ROGER HALSTEAD
NEIL Roden can walk tall in the knowledge that he is the Oldham
club's all-time second highest try-scoring half-back.
Of all those who have worn Oldham's No 6 and No 7 shirts since
statistics were first recorded, only the legendary Frank Pitchford
in the 1950s scored more tries in his career than rock-steady
Roden's 88 . . . or is it 90?
My personal records show Neil on 93, but they include two Law Cup
tries and another in a pre-season warm-up game at Whitehaven in 2004
and for purposes of "official" records those do not count.
That takes him down to 90 -- two more than the current total
allocated to our long-serving stand-off half by Michael
Turner, trusted historian of the Oldham club and the Heritage
Trust's record keeper.
Either way, only Leigh-born Pitchford's 105 touchdowns better
Roden's total, and Frank needed 305 appearances to become one of
only 14 players to top the century, whereas Neil is hot on his heels
in only 218 outings.
Now in his eighth season with the Roughyeds --- he was away from the
club in 2005 and 2006 --- Roden has (my records) played in 218 games
out of a possible 248 and has scored 93 tries and 20 drop goals for
a total of 392 points.
However, for purposes of comparison, and as all other players'
records in this study are kindly provided by the Heritage Trust, we
will stick with Michael's 88 to show the full merit of Roden's
achievement when placed against the try-scoring records of other
leading Oldham half-backs across the years.
Nobody ran 'em in quite like stand-off Wilf Briggs, who rattled up
an astonishing 44 tries in only 73 games in the late '60s and early
'70s, but he didn't stick around long enough to become a member of
the elite.
Pitchford led the way, but second comes Roden -- still going strong
--- and he has already surpassed the totals of several half-back
stars of yesteryear, including Vinny Nestor, Alan Kellett, Ray
Ashton and, way back, Alex Givvons.
Indeed, only 16 Oldham players in total, going back to the early
1900s, have scored more tries for the club than Roden and with the
exception of Pitchford every one of those was either a winger or a
centre.
Top of the pile was the incomparable Alan Davies with a magnificent
174, but to see Roden in 17th place and bearing down on players like
John Etty (90) and Des Foy (96) puts into real perspective Neil's
contribution to the Roughyeds cause over the past few years.
He was the club's leading try scorer in 2002 with 20 and he wasn't
far off claiming top spot again in 2004 when he chalked up 18.
These days, at the age of 29, he is just as happy making tries for
others as he is going over himself.
But next time he crosses the whitewash raise a special cheer for the
man who, over the years, has made try-scoring look easy. Well done,
Neil Roden!
TOP-SCORING
HALF-BACKS
App Tries
Frank Pitchford 305 105
Neil Roden 218 88
Vinny Nestor 232 86
Alan Kellett 206 76
Ray Ashton 212 72
Alex Givvons 241 54
. . . AND THE REST
Alan Davies 174
Sid Rix 155
Mike Elliott 153
Johnny Noon 126
Dick Cracknell 119
Sam Williams 119
Reg Farrar 114
Phil Larder 111
George Tyson 111
Joe Corsi 107
Terry O'Grady 105
Frank Pitchford 105
Evan Davies 102
George Smith 100
Des Foy 96
John Etty 90
Neil Roden 88
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