New look Sheffield Eagles will take time to blossom

The new look Eagles showed were beaten in their opening Championship outing against Oldham at Bower Fold on Sunday, but the fact that they were there in the first instance will be seen as an achievement following months of uncertainty off the field.

Eagles gave a good account of themselves in the first-half leading 6-4, but the hosts upped their game to record a 26-10 victory.

After playing catch-up during pre-season whilst the club fought for stability, Aston admitted it will take some time for the Eagles to fully hit their straps.

“It will take a month I think,” Aston said.

“There are still a lot of areas in there that we are not happy with. We are only getting four-and-a-half hours a week with them, we were late in starting so we are playing catch up. We are where we are, we are not going to moan about it, we are not going to be down on ourselves, we know that if we go out there, commit to each other and become a team then the sooner that all happens then the sooner you start getting the results behind you.

“Nothing surprises me about this group of people because there is a strong inner belief that we can have a good year.”

Eagles made the early running against an Oldham side who had strengthened during the close season, with signings including former Eagles Dave Hewitt, Adam Neal and George Tyson – the latter was missing through suspension.

Aston’s side was undone at the start of the second-half as his new look side conceded three tries.

That ended their hopes of a opening day victory.

They did respond with a try from youngster Ryan Millar, but the Roughyeds held out, as the Eagles now turn their attention to next weekend’s first ‘home’ game against Championship newcomers Toulouse at Belle Vue

The French side produced an impressive opening round performance to dispatch Batley Bulldogs by 44 points to six.