Well what do we think about this one?
It looks winnable on the face of it, but something tells me we had better get ready for more disappointment.
Might go ... I like the set up at Hunslet, but I don't think the person who designed the ground layout was a sun lover, the stand is the wrong side and like a fridge.

Who thought just 4 games into the season this game would have a massive impact on the campaign? i still believe in cookey and the longer he is here the stronger dons will become but winning breeds confidence so stuff the performance its all about the win COYD

Cooke has a bad knee cut that hasn't been given the chance to heal.
He needs to rest it ... so I think it would be foolish if he turned out.
So fairly rudderless unless Wilko is back or some Hull body.
Not good.

Not exactly a "must win" game just yet, but ,no disrespect to Hunslet , it's games like these on the road we really should be winning. It's been a tough start but now is the time for some points on the board. The longer it goes on the more difficult it will become. I'm firmly in the Dons win camp this week........i hope!

It's now official.Cooke says there is a lack of personnel,experience and guidance. Well that's what crap close season recruiting does for you.
As for the Hunslet game, not a chance. I might be pessimistic but when you have supported the team since the sixties and seen many a crisis,it's easy to spot another. This one is mainly down to the amalgamation with the Rovers. Ok it's brought some improvement on the commercial side but as for the team,forget it because it was the Rovers who pulled the plug on team strengthening.

It does seem now that PC has admitted that we are lacking in experience in certain key positions and injuries haven't helped the cause as well as signing player who are crocked already.

I think the Hunslet game is a MUST win as loosing can become a habit that is hard to shake, withing jumping in two early and being overly negative or a "moaner" I think if we do suffer a defeat to the hands of Hunslet some serious questions need to be asked at all levels of the Dons infrastructure as to whats going wrong.

Sundays result wasnt unexpected and it seems the team played with a bit more effort and togetherness but were outplayed by a very well drilled Leigh side. Sunday is a chance for the club and PC to prove they are taking the team in the right direction, as we are supposed to have improved as a squad since last year and Hunslet are a promoted side this should be a good yard stick to see if that's the case. I worry that defeat will kill off any of the floating supporters as its perceived that its a game we should win based on last years standings and what we have been told.

I still hold firm to my belief that any extra revenue generated by the club (Prize money, Ground Share etc) is not not fully going to the Dons...the statement from Gavin Baldwin states this and even if its taken out of context in the article nothing official has been released to counteract it.

At the moment the club seems to be pushing the youth academy system but weirdly have teamed up with Selby college rather than Doncaster College (where two of its first team players work).......I am sometimes very baffled by the club and its choices

Apart from PC's reports and comments we get very little about the Dons in terms of news or feedback, in fact today I have been bombarded with information about going to see the Rovers for £5 I was momentarily interested but then realised they wanted me to pay £5 to go watch them and I am pretty sure I have some emulsion in the shed I can watch dry.

Why is it in the Rovers or Gavin Baldwins interest to leave the Dons to suffer in the way that some have posted? Hardly a showpiece for Club Doncaster if this suggestion is factual.

Simple as stated in the artilcle linked previously www.southyorkshiretimes.co.uk/sp ... -1-6425463 Quote Club Doncaster can mean many things, but ultimately it means my job is to drive more revenue into the Keepmoat Stadium and into this club to improve the playing budget, which gives Paul Dickov the best possible chance of obtaining the highest possible position in the league. The business plan is not about the owners taking money out of the club. It’s about getting more money in.'" Any mention of strengthening the Dons there? seems very very geared to The Rovers. As for the people at the club going along with this...well they know who pays there wages in terms of some people so they are unlikely not to stick to the party line in terms of public discussion. As for John Scarrow I do feel for him as he's clearly a Dons fan at heart.

Simple as stated in the artilcle linked previously www.southyorkshiretimes.co.uk/sp ... -1-6425463 Quote Club Doncaster can mean many things, but ultimately it means my job is to drive more revenue into the Keepmoat Stadium and into this club to improve the playing budget, which gives Paul Dickov the best possible chance of obtaining the highest possible position in the league. The business plan is not about the owners taking money out of the club. It’s about getting more money in.'" Any mention of strengthening the Dons there? seems very very geared to The Rovers. As for the people at the club going along with this...well they know who pays there wages in terms of some people so they are unlikely not to stick to the party line in terms of public discussion. As for John Scarrow I do feel for him as he's clearly a Dons fan at heart.

Quote ="Moonlight"Why is it in the Rovers or Gavin Baldwins interest to leave the Dons to suffer in the way that some have posted? Hardly a showpiece for Club Doncaster if this suggestion is factual.'" =#4040FFSimple as stated in the artilcle linked previously www.southyorkshiretimes.co.uk/sp ... -1-6425463 Club Doncaster can mean many things, but ultimately it means my job is to drive more revenue into the Keepmoat Stadium and into this club to improve the playing budget, which gives Paul Dickov the best possible chance of obtaining the highest possible position in the league. The business plan is not about the owners taking money out of the club. It’s about getting more money in. Any mention of strengthening the Dons there? seems very very geared to The Rovers. As for the people at the club going along with this...well they know who pays there wages in terms of some people so they are unlikely not to stick to the party line in terms of public discussion. As for John Scarrow I do feel for him as he's clearly a Dons fan at heart. I'm with Moonlight on this one. I don't see any reason why it's in the Rovers or Gavin Baldwin's interest to leave the Dons to suffer. The South Yorkshire Times article is obviously written with a Rovers slant to it but I don't think it proves that the Dons are being drained of money to help fund the Rovers. It is in Club Doncaster's best interests if both the Rovers and the Dons are successful as it will mean greater revenue streams coming through the Keepmoat for everyone's benefit. I believe John Scarrow, Carl Hall and Paul Cooke to be men of integrity and I don't think they would stand for being puppets for the Rovers, but that's just my opinion. If anyone has real evidence to prove the Rovers are screwing the Dons, I'll be prepared to change my mind.

Quote ="Moonlight"Why is it in the Rovers or Gavin Baldwins interest to leave the Dons to suffer in the way that some have posted? Hardly a showpiece for Club Doncaster if this suggestion is factual.'" =#4040FFSimple as stated in the artilcle linked previously www.southyorkshiretimes.co.uk/sp ... -1-6425463 Club Doncaster can mean many things, but ultimately it means my job is to drive more revenue into the Keepmoat Stadium and into this club to improve the playing budget, which gives Paul Dickov the best possible chance of obtaining the highest possible position in the league. The business plan is not about the owners taking money out of the club. It’s about getting more money in. Any mention of strengthening the Dons there? seems very very geared to The Rovers. As for the people at the club going along with this...well they know who pays there wages in terms of some people so they are unlikely not to stick to the party line in terms of public discussion. As for John Scarrow I do feel for him as he's clearly a Dons fan at heart. I'm with Moonlight on this one. I don't see any reason why it's in the Rovers or Gavin Baldwin's interest to leave the Dons to suffer. The South Yorkshire Times article is obviously written with a Rovers slant to it but I don't think it proves that the Dons are being drained of money to help fund the Rovers. It is in Club Doncaster's best interests if both the Rovers and the Dons are successful as it will mean greater revenue streams coming through the Keepmoat for everyone's benefit. I believe John Scarrow, Carl Hall and Paul Cooke to be men of integrity and I don't think they would stand for being puppets for the Rovers, but that's just my opinion. If anyone has real evidence to prove the Rovers are screwing the Dons, I'll be prepared to change my mind.

Has anyone got any real evidence to prove that they are not.

From an pure outsiders point of view I can see that we have chosen this year to undertake a youth policy of recruitment despite being told we have some lofty transfer targets and the squads biggest ever playing budget.

The Rovers have managed to continue to sign players both in September and in January all of which I would imagine cost more per week and signing fee's than a decent Semi Pro rugby player.

I would tend to feel that that are not using the Dons for personal gains but in line with the article are using the Dons success of last year and the ground share to fund the Rovers push in League one and as a result of this we are left to feed on the scraps.

We are given the impression that we are "in this together" with the Rovers as one club and with the wages/fees associated with signing even a middling FL1 player I am pretty sure we could have assembled a squad who would have run Leigh much closer than we did and would have no doubt registered some league points by now.

As I said before PC and CH are employed by club Doncaster so its always going to be the case they are don't speak out as they would be employment suicide for them both.

Of course we are entitled to our opinions and they may differ, some people are unlikely to agree with me, some might and this forum only represents a small portion of the Dons supporters or the people of Doncaster, but I have never seen anything official or supplementary evidence to say I am wrong or that we have this supposed "biggest playing budget ever".

Has anyone got any proof that they are, with the exception of conjecture??

We have had the biggest budget in a long, long time, and that came from people within the club, and outside (the sort of people who know what sort of players to market at the club), it was the decision of Cooke and the immediate management (Hall and to an extent, the coaching staff and John Scarrow) not to go out and spend this money immediately, they took the (somewhat brave) decision to try and build crowds before they take the plunge and go for the more expensive players. This is an admirable policy, I know one of the close season targets signed a new contract with his (Super League) club over the winter and remains with them, instead of being here.

All from a different budget..

I can understand your opinion, but at the same time, I feel you're wrong with what you've put.

So clearly from what you have put you seem to be in the know and have an official word from the club regarding this and as such are an approved spokesperson of "Club Doncaster".

You are saying that Carl had a large influence in the decision to sign youth, surely that should have been the coaches roll to pick the players he wanted to sign not that of Carl.

Your views and the article in question seem to be in contradiction, taking over the Dons and I am paraphrasing here was to enable the Rover to access more income to support Paul Dickov's push for a higher league position but the reverse is not true as you have just stated the Rovers and Dons are using a separate budget for players.....doesnt add up to me.

Clearly PC has now come to the realisation that the recruitment over the break hasn't worked as intended and something needs to be done to address this rather than relying on dual reg players from Hull as this is having a negative effect on the team spirit and morale as long serving players are being dropped on a whim on the seeming behest of our Hull overlords.

As I have said before Hunslet is a very big game for the team, on paper from last season we should win and I feel failure to do so will lead to more and more rumors and speculation especially if players who faced up against a clear quality outfit in Leigh are simply replaced with someone Hull wants getting fit....its going to be interesting to see the fall out should we loose once more. I do hope it isn't the case and I am completely proved wrong and this match provides a catalyst to kick on from...we'll know on Monday.

Dead right,couldn't agree more.Rovers puppets and that's it.,which is why the Keepmoat doesn't have an sign up saying home of Doncaster rlfc.

If i look out my window i can see tattersfield, although deepthroat has a nice surface and surroundings we lost a major part of our identity when relocating. everyday i walk the mutt over the same patch a certain mr vila used to bury his opposite number! ahh reminiscing and only in my mid 30s COYD

Bang out of order Mister calling the club Rovers Puppets. Not one bit of truth in it. Shocking thing to come out with. Idiotic is too kind.

Its an opinion Moonlight just like you we are all allowed one, we dont have to agree.

At the moment we are all speculating and can only comment on what we perceive to be happening behind closed doors, I'll happily be proved wrong but no one "officially" from the club has come forth and refuted the claims or quashed the rumors as I said before this site represents a very small and shrinking percentage of the Dons support. I am sure there are many people out there who share both points of view and they are perfectly entitled to do so.

Hopefully something official will come out to confirm or deny this but on the evidence I can see currently I'll stick with my opinion..in short tried to assemble a semi competitive young team on the cheap and hoped the Hull DR players would help us drag out some results, its clear to me on back end of last season, friendlies and start of this season its not working and something needs to change. I can only speculate on the why aim for youth and on that we disagree.

We do however universally all agree that we want the Dons to start winning and secure their place in this division, the long this is left the harder it will become to fix.

Steve have you even seen these new players play , thought you and Geoff don't go watch any more so why even comment . There wasn't any prize money either the position you finished in the league determind what amount you got for the next season and all of the money was spent on contracts . I doubt the club makes any money to fund the rovers with keyboard supporters like you . Your opinion counts for nothing if you don't go and watch . Why don't you spend your time playing mine craft instead

You are quite right I have no attended this year as I don't agree with the ground share with the Eagles. But I don't see the need to launch a personal attack against me or my father.

We can all sling mud and its an easy way out to throw insults and call names, as I have said on several occasions its an opinion we all have different ones and we don't have to agree.

So you can only comment now if you attend or hold a season ticket for the club well they best change the way you sign up to the site, as clearly opinions of those who haven't seen every game clearly have zero value.

Just for reference its Minecraft not mine craft.

I'm not into throwing mud; so I'm not going to. Democracy is all about differing opinions and we have to respect each others, even if we don't agree with them. I've made my views clear in earlier posts.

One of the issues that keeps spinning round in my head is that so many people have different reasons for not watching the Dons any more:

1) We don't play at Tattersfield
2) We play at the Keepmoat
3) The tie up with Donny Rovers through Club Doncaster
4) The Dual Reg system
5) The club's player recruitment policy

* If we moved out of the Keepmoat some people would stop going because it'd be deemed to be showing a lack of ambition as we can't get into Super League without it.

* If we became detached from Donny Rovers our infrastructure would become more insecure and a greater drain would be put on our resources through increased admin costs. Some would see it as a backward step.

* If the DR system was scrapped some people would say that we would be increasing our chances of relegation and we won't be competitive in matches

* If we started to try to recruit experienced players now, there would be criticism that we are shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.

[i[uAll of these would then become reasons why OTHER people might not attend games.[/u[/i

Why can't we all simply pull together, get behind the team and club, and help the club move forward?

We can have discussions about the internal workings of the club as secondary issues but as supporters we need to attend games, and back those that work so hard behind the scenes to bring us rugby league in Doncaster.

Realistically, I believe we need to get crowds of 2,000+ in this division in order to have any chance of getting into Super League. I would appeal to all past Dons fans not to be a stay away, give the club your support, and we may just achieve the aim we all want of top flight rugby league in Doncaster.

I would agree with a lot of what you have said DM and a very sensible post for my part I dont go for a couple of reasons.

3) The tie up with Donny Rovers through Club Doncaster
4) The Eagles "arrangement"
5) The club's player recruitment policy

I think communication from the club is terrible, I've heard several Radio adverts on Hallam for the upcoming Rovers game, anything for the Dons...nope.

Press coverage is scant, use of social media is scant apart from the excellent score updates on Twitter (abet sometimes depressing). Without actively going and looking I have no idea when and where the Dons are playing it should be in my face like Club Doncaster are doing with The Rovers.

Many of the former fans I have spoken to have stopped going for one or all of the above reasons and some due to just loosing interest in the sport in general due to poor refereeing and the way the game is now played (see lack of skill and guile).

Everyone posting here wants the club to succeed, but they really do keep scoring some massive own goals.

IMHO they have missed a massive opportunity to engage with the young people of Doncaster by partnering up with Selby (yes Selby) college for the Club Doncaster Academy programme, not Doncaster College in the heart of the town where two of its first team squad play....a very strange decision for me.

The club doncaster theme Is well supported by the rovers , it plain to see that they want the dons in this league or higher just for the extra revenue it brings in take the last two home games 1350 1600 fans all buying drinks and food they won't let us go down what's in it for them if we are only going to 3 or 400 fans in championship 1 we got a lot more games like the fev and Leigh games to come , not Gloucester Oxford or Coventry so keep the faith

I'm not attacking you Steve I just can't see how you can comment on the signings if you haven't seen them play . If the Eagles playing at the keepmoat is stopping you from going just leave after the Dons game .what difference does it make . Things are never going to be like there where at tatters field times have changed if we were still there we would need to be at a place like the keepmoat to get into super league anyway . Come on Steve stop making excuses get yourself back down and see what's happening at the club for yourself we need all the support we can get

That is the best post I have ever read on this forum

Oh anyone would think you was losing money on the club the way you are complaining and this isn't the thread to be doing it on why not start 1 just for moaning gits and let everyone else talk about up and coming games that have actually been to watch games

Both the Workington and the Hunslet game threads have got side-tracked by other issues. I've been posting some replies on the sticky thread What Can The Club Do To Improve Attendances on similar issues to those that have been raised here.

I guess it'd be a nightmare for the moderators to lift all the posts and put them on a separate thread but returning back the original thread, I'm looking forward to Sunday's game. It is a big one in the context of our season. I'm sure a win would make us all feel a lot better.

I wonder how things will go with team selection and who might be coming over from Hull?

Hull seem to be a bit short on numbers in the pack as Mickey Paea is serving a one-match ban; Chris Green and Liam Watts are doubtful, along with Jordon Thompson, which leaves Josh Bowden and Feka Paleaasina as the only two fit props. Looks like they might need someone from us!



We need to get the strongest side possible out this weekend as the two points from this game could prove vital when we look at the league table at the end of the season.