We lost 34-6 at Workington in June. Not too worried about Oldham. We seemed to have their measure when we beat them at home.

If this proposed change goes through, beating Worky at home in the last match seems even more vital than it previously did, and York beating Worky in Round 24 is a must.

More news on the proposal:

[urlhttp://www.totalrl.com/exclusive-proposals-tabled-for-14-team-championship-in-2019-with-three-up-from-l1/[/url

Some good news about KC in this article. The lad has done well to recover and be back early. www.hucknalldispatch.co.uk/sport ... -1-9315277

Some good news about KC in this article. The lad has done well to recover and be back early. www.hucknalldispatch.co.uk/sport ... -1-9315277

What does the side that wins League 1 get that the side that finishes 2nd doesn't get?
In other words apart from kudos and a trophy what is the monetary prize?
In other words what is in place to keep them honest in the remaining games.
Donny don't play either side again ... but a couple of our rivals do.

Can't remember seeing it this year, previous years champions we got an additional £50k for finishing top. And a title (The only official title we have ever won!)

[uUpdate Sunday 2nd September:[/u

=#FF0000Team & Pts........Diff & Rank......Round 24..............Round 25.............Round 26...........Final Points & Rank
York 42.................+750 (2).......Oldham (H)............Hemel (A).............Whitehaven (H)........48 (1)
Bradford 40...........+758 (1)........W Wales (A)...........Oldham (A)..........Hemel (H)................46 (2)
Dons 32.................+381 (4).......Keighley (A)...........N Wales (A).........Workington (H)........38 (3)
Workington 32 ......+324 (5).......Newcastle (A).........London (H)...........=#0000FF[uDons (A)[/u..................36 (4)

Oldham 30.............+541 (3)......=#0000FF[uYork (A)[/u...................=#0000FF[uBradford (H)[/u........London (A)..............32 (6)
Hunslet 30..............+221 (6).....=#0000FF[uWhitehaven (A)[/u........Newcastle (H)......Coventry (A)............34 (5)
Whitehaven 28.......+151 (7)......Hunslet (H)..............Coventry (A).........York ((A).................32 (7)

We’ve now moved up to third in the table. The good news is that our fate, with regards to finishing third (and getting a home tie in the play-offs), is in our own hands. We just need to win all three remaining games.

As before, in the chart above, the games highlighted in blue are the games where I’ve got the team in the left column to lose the game.

As long as we don’t stumble against Keighley or N Wales, the key game is the home match against Workington. It certainly looks as though the winners of that game will finish third.

[uOldham:[/u Unless Oldham turn over York or Bradford, they’re not going to catch us, but they do have a better points difference should they draw level on points with us.

[uHunslet:[/u If Hunslet beat Whitehaven next weekend it would increase their possible finishing points total to 36; we would need to lose to Workington to give them a chance of catching us but even then it’s unlikely as we have a much better points difference.

[uWorkington:[/u If Workington lose to Newcastle next weekend, we could even lose the home game against Workington and finish above them. Come on Newcastle!

[uWhitehaven:[/uTtheir race looks to be run. They’d need to beat York in their last game to have any chance at all of making the top six.

As things stand the top team (York) is promoted automatically, 2 plays 5, and 3 plays 4. Unless York drop points against Oldham, Hemel, or Whitehaven, they’re home and dry.

[uPlay-off semi finals:[/u If we beat Workington in the semi-final (or whoever finishes fourth), we would then either be away to Bradford in the final, or at home to the team that beat Bradford. We can’t play Bradford at home as that’s not a possible combination of fixtures.

[uThree teams promoted:[/u Should the RFL bring in the proposed new rules to promote three teams, York and Bradford would go up, with us (presuming we finish third) at home to team 6 in the semi-final. That would be Oldham based on my present forecasts. We’d then be at home again in the final to the winners of the 4 v 5 game (probably Workington v Hunslet). A play-off final at home to either Workington or Hunslet seems more appealing than an away trip to Bradford!

Of course, we need to make sure we don’t slip up at Keighley next weekend or else all I’ll be doing a serious revamp of calculations next weekend!

I was thinking of updating the above figures after the Workington loss on Saturday 8th September but I won't tempt fate!

I'll wait until Sunday evening!

[uUpdate Sunday 9th September:[/u

Team & Pts........Diff & Rank......Round 25.............Round 26...........Final Points & Rank
York 44.................+754 (2).........Hemel (A)...........Whitehaven (H).........48 (1)
Bradford 42...........+758 (1)....... Oldham (A)...........Hemel (H)................46 (2)
Dons 34.................+425 (4).......N Wales (A).........Workington (H).........38 (3)
Workington 32 ......+296 (5).......London (H).............=#0000FF[uDons (A)[/u.................34 (4)
Oldham 30.............+537 (3).......=#0000FF[uBradford (H)[/u........London (A)..............32 (6)
Whitehaven 30.......+187 (7).......Coventry (A)..........York ((A).................32 (7)
Hunslet 30..............+185 (6)......Newcastle (H).......Coventry (A)............34 (5)

We’re only two games away from the end of the season now. Everything’s starting to look a lot clearer. Workington’s loss to Newcastle and our victory over Keighley have put us in a very strong position for finishing third. The weekend losses for Oldham and Hunslet also worked in our favour.

If the Dons win next weekend against N Wales, we’re virtually guaranteed third place. After a win next week, even if we lost to Workington in the last match our better points difference would almost certainly secure third spot.

As things stand at the moment it’s not mathematically certain that we’ll finish in the top five but it looks as though we could lose both remaining games and still be in there . For us to finish sixth, Whitehaven and Hunslet would have to win both of their remaining games and improve their points difference considerably to catch up. Whitehaven should lose at York and Hunslet might have all on to beat Newcastle next week.

Our points difference with Workington is +129. Workington need to record a cricket score against London next week to threaten us. London beat Hemel 76-6 yesterday. Come on you Skolars!

So, a win next weekend should give us third place barring a massive loss at home to Workington. A loss next week means we’d have to beat Workington to finish third.

York still look set for automatic promotion. Away wins at Hemel and a home win against Whitehaven will do.

[iWe’re now waiting on the verdict of the RFL meeting next Friday to see whether two or three teams will be going up from our division.[/i

I watched York vs Oldham on the 'Our League' app.
Oldham looked dangerous and York got out of jail.
So I am thinking Oldham could be a worry in the play-offs.

I was wondering whether York and Workington may have suffered this weekend because they knocked seven bells out of each other last weekend?

Oldham looked quite poor when we played them at the Keepmoat but there very good points difference suggests they're perhaps better than their league position.

If you're right and Oldham have got their act together now, it may be better for us if Hunslet win their last two games and Oldham lose against Bradford so Hunslet keep them out of the play-offs.

Pos................ P..W..D..L... F... A... Diff... Pts
1 York ............25 23 0 2 1098 294 804 46
2 Bradford...... 25 22 0 3 1145 275 870 44
3 Doncaster.....25 18 0 7 912 463 449 36
4 Workington...25 17 0 8 801 473 328 34
5 Whitehaven...25 16 0 9 688 497 191 32
6 Oldham.........25 15 0 10 856 327 529 30
7 Hunslet........25 15 0 10 731 582 149 30
8 Newcastle.....25 13 0 12 743 514 229 26



[uNext weekend’s games[/u:
York v Whitehaven
Bradford v Hemel
Dons v Workington
London v Oldham
Coventry v Hunslet
Keighley v W Wales

Unless York slip up at home to Whitehaven they’re going up as Champions. Whitehaven struggled to beat Coventry at home 24-20 this weekend.
The Dons will stay in third place unless we lose to Workington by 61 points or more.

If Whitehaven lose at York, Oldham will take 5th place providing they win at London as they have the best points difference.

Hunslet could make 5th spot if they beat Coventry but would need Oldham to lose at London and for York to beat Whitehaven by quite a few; it looks like Hunslet are out of it.

[uThe final standings will probably be:[/u
1) York
2) Bradford
3) Dons
4) Workington
5) Oldham
6) Whitehaven
7) Hunslet

[uPlay Offs:[/u

Bradford will be at home to Oldham in the play-offs. Bradford won 24-16 at Oldham today. A Bradford win might not be a certainty.
The Dons will be at home to Workington in the play-offs.

With a bit of luck, we’ll be at home to Oldham in the final! Otherwise, after a play-off win against Workington, we’ll be at Bradford in the final.
We need to win next weekend to build our confidence for the play-off game!

Not sure Bradford won at York.

We'll make that Oldham, should we?



I slip these in to keep everyone on their toes, you know!

Not everyone is prefect ...
Although having said that I knew a lad once at school .....he was!

I think I need a proofreader, you know!

I started doing these tables and forecasts before Round 20 was played. The Dons were in 6th place at the time. That all seems a long time ago now.

I did fancy our chances of finishing third after round 19 but I thought next week's game would be the decider.

On reflection, our win at Whitehaven and Workington's loss against Newcastle were the key results that have put us in a good position. I suppose our home win against Newcastle was pivotal as well, especially considering how they derailed Workington.

They did in round 1

With Hull having their last game at Wigan on the weekend of Sept 29/30th, is anyone in a position to say who from the Hull squad is available to us if we manage to beat Worky in the SF. I know Litten, Logan, Miloudi and Harris must be. I'm not sure who else has played the number of requisite games.

With Hull being away in that last match, Hull may feel more inclined to let their lads play in the 'big match' for us, rather than send them to Lenagan Land.

Don't forget Jack Sanderson too Alan. Cameron Scott is also qualified and I believe Jordan Lane is qualified too. Not sure about Lewis Bienek as he only played for us twice but there have been dispensation rules before for players who have been injured.

We can only have five in total in the squad. I'd go for Miloudi, Litten (both vital), Lane, Logan, and Sanderson.

I know it's a bit harsh on the Donny lads that may miss out but we've got to put out the best 17 available players.

Lewis Bienik has 4 appearances for the Dons but would have needed 5 to qualify having played for Hull after the qualifying cut-off point.

Jack Downs ?

Could play for the Dons if offered / selected.

Thank you for the replies and clearing up who is potentially available should we need them. It will be interesting DM as to who is in the Hull squad for the Wigan game.

Well spotted... I'd forgotten about him.

Hull have got to find 17 fit players I suppose, then they can start to think about who we can have.

Surely they'll realise the importance of the game and want to help out as much as they can.

I've just been trying to pick my preferred 17 if everyone (except Jordie) was available. It's pretty tough as there are at least two players I'm trying to fit in and I can't!

injured at the moment
not sure how long he will be out