COUGARS star Rikki Sheriffe has fired a message to rivals Oldham ahead of Sunday’s showdown: “We mean business and we want promotion.”

Paul March’s side take to the field on Sunday for the first time since bidding farewell to Danny Jones at his funeral last Friday.

The popular half-back’s death earlier this month has hit Cougars badly but Sheriffe said the team were aiming to honour their former team-mate by going back up.

The former Bradford Bulls player missed the defeat at Swinton on May 17 through concussion and is aiming to return to the side against leaders Oldham at Cougar Park this weekend.

Sheriffe said: “It will be nice just to get out on the park again and re-energise.

“We have all said our goodbyes to Danny, so we just want to crack on and win promotion for him now.

“We want to do it for Keighley Cougars as well, so we’ve got to have a little bit of arrogance about us.

“We’ve got to puff our chest out and say ‘they’re coming to our ground, let’s show them who is boss’.

“We’ve got to show other teams what we’re about because we’re a good team with youth on our side.

“We’ve got to go out all guns blazing, rack some points up on opposition teams and let them know that they have played the Keighley Cougars.

“We mean business and we believe we can win the competition.

“Moreover, we believe we can do it with a smile on our faces and to honour Danny.”

There was a huge turnout for Jones’ funeral in Halifax last week and for Sheriffe it allowed a moment of reflection.

He said: “It has been very tough on everybody and Friday was really hard.

“You’ve got your own thoughts about how you feel and what Danny meant to you, but it never compares to his immediate family, especially his wife and two kids.

“Seeing them really brought it home, but on the other hand it was a really nice service and a fitting send-off for Danny, which is all you could ask for.

“Promotion’s what we were striving towards before we lost Danny, but now we are simply more determined to do it and it’s a very achievable common goal.”

Sheriffe was not risked against Swinton last time out but he is desperate to feature against table-topping Oldham.

He added: “I want to get back playing and at any level of rugby league, you want to face the better teams.

“Oldham come into that category in our league, so hopefully I can come back in and play my part.”

Cougars are expected to give loan signing scrum half Adam Brook his debut after arriving from Bulls on loan.

Jode Sheriffe (knee) is set to return but club captain James Feather will require a head test before being cleared to play after suffering concussion last time out.