I agree other teams appear to have recruited well on paper, however we have in the past recruited well on paper only to disappoint on grass (or mud in Cumbria), some of our most successful seasons in recent years have been when we recruited young raw and hungry talent such as Luke Gale and Kyle Briggs, therefore I am optimistic we can repeat this under the expert guidance of Paul Cooke and other senior coaching and playing staff. I am excited by the forthcoming season and confident of relative success.

I share some of Stand Offish's concerns and share some of rugblyman's enthusiasm.

The key for me is that some of the raw talent amongst the youngsters is going to have to hit the ground running. If they don't we're going to be relying on getting established players (or players with the required raw talent) from Hull to fill the gaps.

I've no doubt that if anyone can get the best out of the youngsters it will be Paul Cooke, the coaching team, and the senior players.

I can't wait for the first game!

Because Spav has left, we are looking for a hooker .....
Because Carr is out and Scotty reverts to FB, we are looking for a winger ....
That is two thirteens of a side, nearly a sixth of a side making do.
Hardly a good start, we are looking at bottom third in the table.

The good thing is, watching them develop and get better ... and that's the season for me ... the Dons slowly coming good!

Look at the fixture list, it's hard to see where our first win comes from .,...

I don't think that Cookey is anywhere near the fitness he should be at and he is our star player.
34 nearly and a stone overweight!

I am at the pessimistic end of the spectrum though.

Carl has announced in his In The Dugout article on 24th December that two more of last season's squad have resigned. Their names haven't been released yet.

He also announced that there is one more brand NEW signing to be revealed.

I wonder if Ryan Wilson is one of the resignings. Who might the other one be?

I wonder if the new signing will be a prop, hooker, half-back or winger?

Well Ryan Wilson is listed on last seasons squad list on the website as a Prop.
So they may well be thinking of using him more this season and he is still only young.

I personally hope he is one of the re-signings as i thought he looked to have potential when he did play.

Agree 100% - he was just about our only forward who had an offload game. Looking at the squad list though I can't imagine who the other resigned player is unless Spav's job didn't work out already.

Hodson ?

It'd certainly be good news if Tom Hodson was back.

Last few post should probably be moved into the squad discussion thread by the admin tbh. However I was thinking I don't think we have officially announced Danny Nicklas yet have we? I know it was confirmed at the fans forum but without an official announcement via the club website could he be the second resigning along with Wilson? I Believe Tom went to union.

Merry Christmas to each and all.
This forum is going the way of the Dodo, which surprises me in the era of the smartphone when folk can post from anywhere.
It's not just crowd numbers at games we have to worry about.
A shame, I would say ......
Here's to 2015, raise a glass!

Merry Christmas S/O and all other forum readers!



I'm sure it'll get a bit busier on here as the first games approach.

As far as the forum goes it probably doesn't help that we know we are signing unknowns as it were - it makes it impossible for us to speculate. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing as some of our most high profile signings in recent years have been some of our worst ie Basil Richards, Chris McKenna and Paul McNicholas to name a few.

Sir Basil Richards ... when touched on the shoulder he went down on one knee .....lol

and if memory serves it was a rare treat when he retained possession.

Cooke says he knows who we will be getting on D/R. That's why we haven't been in the market for a 9 outside backs or back rowers!!! doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk/artic ... ch-further

Cooke says he knows who we will be getting on D/R. That's why we haven't been in the market for a 9 outside backs or back rowers!!! doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk/artic ... ch-further

Cross referencing that with the excellent post by Double Movement gives us this pool:

Hookers: (9) Danny Houghton age 26; (23) James Cunningham age 20.

Second Row/Loose: (11) Gareth Ellis age 33; (12) Mark Minichello age 30; (13) Joe Westerman age 25; (17) Dean Hadley age 22; (16) Jordon Rankin age 23; (21) Richard Whiting age 29; (25) Jansin Turgut age 18; (26) Jack Downs age 19; (2icon_cool.gif Brad Fash age 18.

Wing: (2) Tom Lineham age 22; (5) Fetuli Talanoa age 27; (31) Callum Lancaster age 18.

Don't forget Stuart Howarth and Curtis Naughton for hookers and outside backs respectively.

Yes forgot the new kids; which makes them likely candidates

Dual Reg
I don't think you will see many of the current HFC under19 squad,who played in the friendly match as Radford wants to keep them together to win their league.
For certain you will get Rich Whiting for a few weeks as he is now recovered from injury and needs game time.
At nine you will get one of Cunningham or Howarth.
If all our props stay fit then possibly Chris Green or Bowden
In the backs you have already seen Curtis Naughton who at 19 is a great prospect but is likely to get some game time at Doncaster along with with Joe Arundel.
second row is the likely position for Whiting and its possible Dean Hadley for the odd game

All those mentioned sound good to me.

But lets make sure who plays, plays more than 3,4, or 5 games before cut off date so we don't get into trouble.

They will have to watch D/R situation like hawks.

Its all good and well to have 4 or 5 players coming over from Hull, but with a squad of 29 players and 4 or 5 loan players , there will be at least 14 dons players not playing each week. What the dons urgently require is a second team where any players not picked in the first team can get game time for the reserve team.That will enable player to get match fit and injured players game time they require to be able to force themselves back into the fist team.

A good point!

Also with a to second team , it will give local players from i.e. Tollbar , bently etc an opportunity to force their way into the that second team, and gives a pathway to all other local players. Sheffield eagles have a good system for local players. If you are not required for the first team, you will play for the Hallam eagles team , who are in the southern coference league. The comp isn't that strong , but it gives the fringe players game time.

I doubt anyone will disagree about the need for a 2nd team , lets hope for one in 2016.

Dons 12+ today