[urlhttp://www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk/article/43809/this-is-it[/url

Let's hope THIS IS IT doesn't become THIS IS [size=60sh[/sizeIT!



COYD

No way you were letting that opportunity pass I guess.

Indeed!
Careless wording is meat and drink to such as me!

Every week we have had carl begging for attendences and money from gate receipts saying this is a massive game for us, like a battered wife you can only treat them bad for so long until they rightly rebel and tell you to f off! (thats not from experience our lass would kick the crap out of me lol) COYD

It wasn't long ago leafy, when you revealed the signings we were making, that you said you were confident about the remainder of the season. Very good signings you said, most, including myself, agreed, unfortunately an upturn in form didn't appear, are you now saying that the signings made were wrong?, you thought they were very good at the time.

Show me my statement where i say the signings were poor please

I didn't say you said the signings were poor, on another thread you say club Doncaster are resigned to going to Hemel etc because we didn't go for sammut, I simply asked the question if you think the players, you were excited about, were now wrong for the club

Theres no doubt we have quality within the camp and all 3 signings i quoted fox, hodson and groat i believe would not look out of place in teams at the top end of the league its been the poor management/ poor performances and terrible pre season recruitment that has resulted in where we are right now

I agree, poor recruitment at the start of the season, not many said so at the time , but in hindsight yes. Also dual reg has been poor, but again supporters were split, some like it some don't. Rob terrace, I think, asked a question on facebook, something like would you rather have a team of 17 players who would run through a brick wall and fire, or 17 flair players ( not exact question, but something like), I said s bit of both would be nice, most said 17 who would run through the wall. My point is no matter what the club do, it will be wrong in someone's eyes, they brought in players who they thought could help the current situation, and changed the coach. Carl Hall is asking people to support the club, should he need to ask?.

It was quite difficult for us to make judgements at the start of the season as to whether the recruitment policy was right or not, as we didn't really know much about the players who'd been signed. The early season posts probably suggested we were concerned but, as you say, hindsight is a great thing. Last year, the club found the likes of Richard Wilkinson and Steve Snitch was a good signing. We were prepared to give the club the benefit of the doubt partly probably due to the fact we've also had a decent record in the past when signing the likes of Luke Gale and Kyle Briggs. We were hoping that similar would happen this time around, but sadly it didn't.

We could see the writing on the wall from quite early on, probably after the pre-season Hunslet game. It's disappointing that the club didn't see the depth of the problems at that point.

HKRs right in that there's is no policy that gets everyone's agreement. In a perfect world we wouldn't need Dual Reg. We would be self-sufficient. Running through brick walls is okay, and no one likes totally committed players more than I do, but if they're simply not good enough, effort alone doesn't win games.

The risk of bringing in DR players is that they might not be totally committed to the cause, and they may be no better than the players you've already got. The DR players we had last season made more of a difference than the DR players we've had this season. In that way, I feel Hull have let us down too. In our hour of need, I feel there is more they could have done to help. I understand their priority is to look after Hull's needs first but working together means working for the benefit of both parties.

Our underlying problem is that we don't have a reserve team to bring through our own talent. Throwing youngsters into the first team, when they're probably not match fit, is a tough call at the best of times. But then it probably all comes down to money. Should we invest the cash in trying to win now (by signing higher profile players) or try to invest in the future with youth?

There is an element in me that says that if the present isn't reasonably successful, there may be no future, so you must primarily look after the present and build for the future when resources allow. Our current season policy seems to have fallen foul of everything. We didn't invest sufficiently in the present, it's hard to invest in the future if you don't have a second team, and we don't have a proper structure in place to develop the youngsters.

The consequence is that more money needs to be invested to correct the errors made. This is where Club Doncaster will need to stand up and be counted.

Should Carl have to ask for people's support? I'd like to think not but I've pleaded with people on here to stay loyal because it's the only positive thing we can do as a group to help the team.

One of the things that does annoy me is the marketing hype that comes out on the Dons' website through the tweets such as this: THIS IS IT! Bumper crowd expected for the Whitehaven clash!

I consider this to be an insult to people's intelligence. Yes, we need to get behind the team, but this makes it sound like a cup semi-final with glory waiting if we win. It's not. It's the first of the last battles for survival. On what basis is a bumper crowd expected? Do the club really think anyone other than the loyal few will turn up?

But then again, different things annoy us, that's my whinge out of the way!

Spot on with everything you said there i think.

Workington know how important it is to stay in this league, thats why they have got Sammut, and are at least trying to ensure they do.
We haven't got a clue and are not bothered either{the board} thats why nothing was done earlier in the season when it should have been, when Cooke was here, and even the supporter saw the writng in the wall after the first 5-6 games.
Thats when things should have been done, basically a disgrace to the club and the supporters who are fantastic and deserve better than we have got this season.
And then they expect massive crowds

Totally Agree----to talk of this weekends game being up there with the Batley Promotion game is Absurd.

Its a very sad state of affairs and the recruitment was very poor during the off season and if we look back to the previous year we got very lucky with Dual Reg...look at how many games people like Whiting and Kay won us that pushed us up to the lofty heights.

I agree some of the signings this year are solid but the damage is done and morale is shot across the side, it seems once a team gets 12 points up on us, heads go and we forget how to play. I have faith that GT and PG can turn us into a decent side again but its not going to be instant and due to the late recognition by "Club Doncaster" that we were up to our necks in it it looks like this season could be a very costly one.

I cannot see a big crowd on Sunday sadly as many fans feel let down by the club and its management (I am one of them) Hopefully we can pull of a win tho and with the likes of Waller back and hopefully Waterman we have some match winners available.

There has been some massive mismanagement at the club this year.... who is accountable for it, its likely we'll never know it cost Paul Cooke his job but who was responsible for the close season acquisitions and policy of youth. I am not sure it was PC as quite a few players didnt stay around long enough to even pull on a shirt....as I said its likely we'll never know....hopefully GT is strong enough to sign the players he wants and feels will make us a better side.

Week in week out the fans get behind the team , yet we are served up the same poor performances , fans can only take so much before they say enough is enough, as for sammut in signing him would have taken us over the salery cap and we would not have been able to have any more loan players or DR players , some of u would say that we don't need loan or DR players quite rightly , so would it have been worth taking a chance or struggle to put a team out out if we got a load of injuries

How do you know it would have taken us over the salary cap?
Do you know what we have spent and what he would have cost.
So has Workington gone over theirs then.?

Was told by Baldwin and Carl , at a fans meeting , do you have to question every post I told you and that should be good ebough , no idea about workingtons finances and I ain't interested in them only us

Since when do i question every post you put on here.
I thought that's what this place was for to put your views and ask questions.
You should have explained in your post where you got your information from then, then we wouldn't
ask the question.
So Baldwin and carl have said that actually signing Sammut would have taken us over the salary cap,
this week it only came out on Monday as far as i know.
Sorry another question


I wouldn't trust Baldwin as far as i could throw him.
You should be interested in Workington because if they finish above us we are down,
like i am interested in Batley and Whitehaven as well.

I give up on here you have your own clique I gave u an answer to the question posed , it was not about sammut was about another SL player why we did not sign , and that was the reply we got , I understand why there is so few of you on here u all think you know it all , and when some one comes on here with answers you got to have a dig , I gunna stick to Facebook from now on so don't bother with a response

To be fair, I don't think anyone was having a dig, Titanic. None of us were aware of the salary cap implications with the Jarrod Sammut situation. Thanks for filling us in on the details.

If you don't trust Baldwin I would hate to see who you trusted.

Bang on the money. But I wouldn't expect owt else

I'm in a clique of one ... if that helps?