Is the policy of recruiting youngsters going to turn out to be a stroke if genius, or are we going to find ourselves at the wrong end of the league struggling to avoid relegation?

The quality of the opposition in our league is seriously stronger this season. Featherstone have just announced the signing of prop Paul Wood from Warrington, No disrespect to Jack Walton but I was hoping our final signing may have been someone of similar stature to Paul Wood.

I have no doubt that Paul Cooke, Carl Hall and John Scarrow have weighed up all options and decided the road we're going down is the best one for the club. They understand the financial side of running the club much better than we do as supporters and they have a vision as to where our future lies.

I'm sure PC and the coaching team will develop the youngsters and get the best out of them. I hope we can develop them within a winning team.

I can't wait for the new season to start. I'm eager and keen to see what the youngsters have got to offer, although slightly apprehensive about what the season may hold as we've not added much by way of experience.

agree 100%
Also a bit disappointed thought it may have been someone well known and established.

Hope we have enough experience to avoid the struggle of relegation.

I'm not so sure, there are some good squads out there this season even among the teams who were
below us last year and that's my main fear..
But time will tell.

Danny Niklas confirmed as resigning also

So now we are just waiting for Ryan Wilson to be announced plus who we are getting on dual reg, although dual reg is unlikely to be sorted until after the Hull game I think.

Looks like we will be relying heavily on D/R.
Not fair on everyone whos signed to me.

Although if I understand the super 8's correctly all points accumulated throughout the season are null and void once the competition starts - meaning we could lose every regular season game and still stay up while the fifth place team could be relegated (in theory). So may be all the signings will get their chance before being replaced by D/R?

That's only true of the Middle 8. If we're in the bottom 8 the points continue as was

That's a relief as while I think realistically we will be towards the bottom this year I do believe we will have enough in the locker to avoid relegation.

I put Danny Nicklas on the squad thread after the Fans Forum and have added Jack Walton tonight giving a total of 28 players. Ryan Wilson would make 29 which was the total figure quoted at the Fans Forum.

One thing youngsters have over some more mature players is, on average, speed.
So I expect this wet behind the ears side to be at the very least ....fast(ish).
If not, I will be very disappointed.

Only four days to go to see what's in Pandora's box.
The last thing in Pandora's box was .... hope!
I'm hopeful.
COYD

Ryan Wilson now confirmed

Thats good news i think he is a decent prospect.
as i have mentioned on other posts he seemed to do ok when he did play.

... and duly added.

Julie?

Mitch hitch?

[urlhttp://www.thestar.co.uk/sport/other-sports/rugby-league/doncaster-rlfc-carl-hall-relaxed-about-mitch-clark-s-international-clearance-1-7039508[/url

He will probably not be trotting out on Sunday then.

We had this discussion yesterday; does he have to be cleared to play in a friendly?

I have seen trialists, AN Others and all sorts in preseason games

Don't know, Jemmo.

If clearance hasn't come through, I presume his contract isn't yet valid. If he's still registered with another club, he might not be eligible to play in any games until the registration is officially cleared.

The AN Other type characters generally seem to be amateur players who are dipping their toe in the pro-ranks for the first time.

It'll be really disappointing if Mitch can't play a part on Sunday.

If he's signed a contract with us surely he can't still be registered with someone else.
It's only a warm up game get him on the pitch.
So he gets a warm up cos he will need it on sunday.

So DR is a big cloudy pain, signing international has its issues and loans are a waste of time due to call backs etc...

Not easy for clubs is it

Calm down folks I know most of it is a copy and paste job from old articles on our website.

[urlhttp://www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk/article/41477/in-the-dugout-with-carl[/url dated 24/12/14

[urlhttp://www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk/article/41406/penrith-panthers-youngster-joins-dons[/url dated 12/12/14

Now as with everyone else I would be happy to hear that it has been resolved. This 'article' shouldn't be causing us any extra anxiety on the matter.

With all these youngsters we must have the most unpredictable team in the division.
Forrest Gump mode ... ' The Dons are like a box of chocolates ... you never know what you're gonna get.'
COYD

One thing we should be an unknown quantity to everyone.
And hopefully shock a few teams and us fans.

I think that is what I was trying to say ...lol