Just managed to back us only giving up 6 points at EVENS

... with Boylesports

Well done you Dons 48-16 . An outstanding performance from Paul Cooke scoring 2 tries kicked 8 goals. Not a 1 man performance though.

Only the serious looking arm injury to Carl Hughes put a dampner on proceedings.

Tackling much better,odd lapse but improvement in general.Paul cooke starting to come into his own. Dont really think whitehaven offered too much in attack, looked a bit disjointed i thought. speed at play of the ball could still improve, but have to be happy with the win. hughes injury, any news,? looked like shoulder

must have posted at same time weighman, cookeys kicking is what ive got used to,hes very accurate

Great start to the season. Top of the League!



I always worry when Whitehaven come to town but they don't
look a shadow of their former selves.

We looked very good at stages. Still a few silly errors. Eradicate these
and I think we'll have a pretty successful season.

Well done everybody, more of the same please!



COYD

From the angle I watched from, its one of the best team showings I've seen from The Dons in a long, long time. The side we put out was as near as full strength as we could be, and I don't know whether Whitehaven have been this poor all this season, or we were just very good, but its an outstanding marker to lay down at the beginning of the season. The amount of smiles on the faces of fans that I saw told the story better than anything.

Cooke was worth the admission money on his own today. Although he never looked as if he broke sweat, his organising skills made up for his lack of mobility/match fitness, and his kicking game was superb. He was the best player on the park by a country mile, and hopefully if we can turn Barrow over next week word will get around and he can put another 300/400 stayaways back on the gate.
Happy days!

What did I say?
We would blast Whitehaven?
We certainly did!

Top of the league.
Cooke top of the point scorers table.
A lovely day.
Heaven!

Let's keep it going Dons.
If we beat Barrow next week, silly as it sounds, we are virtually promoted.
Because who else is better?

PS
Widnes, I had written you off, but what a fantastic result to beat Wigan today!

One of the best performances I have seen for a while. everybody form 1-17 played well. Cookie just oozed class from the very first set of 6 we had and he organised both the attack and defence. I am confident that we will be very hard to beat at home and if we can keep everyone fit and healthy then top four should be no problem. COYD. PS though the officials had a really great game today, consistent with decisions and working together to get the majority of them right

well done lads - sounds a great performance

must have been ok cos SO hasn't said a bad word.........

He stopped to the end that tells you everything.

said last week today was wot it was all about. great performances all round, i was suprised to see powley omitted from the 17, thought he had been going well,onwards n upwards. bring on the barrowmen. coyd

Welsh was the surprise pick for me today .

Very good start to the campaign and the first try had Cooke's class written all over, short pop ball, gap, and for a bloke who has had no Rugby for over a year, great sprint finish. He is worth the admission money alone. Lord knows what he will be like in the league, class through and through. Massive start and congrats to all the players and staff.

A few photos... www.flickr.com/photos/r82photogr ... 563219929/

A few photos... www.flickr.com/photos/r82photogr ... 563219929/

I see Hyde scored. Has he been making most of this loan?

Thought he had a good game today, kicked well .

Showed up well for me today and gave Cookie the space he needed and kicked well. Finished his try very well

I hope he get back into wakey's sqaud. Cos we need a kicker, and Hyde is a competent kicker.

He's not been place kicking for us, that seems to be a skill we're blessed with this year

Thought he put in a good performance for only his 2nd game for the Dons.He doesn't appear to have a squad number for you so have you got other no 7's in the squad who would have preference if your regular 7 is injured?

Thing is our main halfbacks are Isaac John and Tim Smith who can't goal kick. Then there is Matty Wildie who I think can't kick. Dale Morton can kick, but Agar is not playing him. Hyde can kick, and I thought he looked decent for most of the games he played last year, then Kear suddenly dropped him for the rest of the season and stuck with Tommy Lee and Jeremy Smith

We have more 7's, they just can't goal kick.

I am very happy with the showing today. We need to keep our feet on the ground though as there is a long way to go, and i am sure there will be some downs as well as ups. But you can't ask for more than that performance.

The only downer was white shirt numbers!

Can we get a bigger no10 shirt for Dean O'Loughlin , its a bit much asking Craig Robinson to stretch it for him.

A good start to the season and I will be attending quite a few of the home games this year.

We played some expansive rugby at times and Cooke was the best player on the pitch by a mile, I also thought Robinson was outstanding in attack and defense to.