There are no more free weekends now for the Dons and I'm hoping that this mini break has helped the injured to recover and built some fitness into Watson. I know its a cliché but it is in our hands to secure that second place. Hunslet are on a roll and good luck to them for staging that, however I will be surprised if they took the points off of Dewsbury which would mean (rightly IMO) Dewbury would secure promotion before we play them at home.

Hoping for a proper performance this coming Sunday and the players are focused for this vital run in. Workington away is now looking like a belter of a fixture.

The Rams look nailed on to finish top , our priority now is a second place finish to ensure home draws throughout the play offs.

Hunslet are on a roll , however I would be more than confident of a Dons win should we draw them or Oldham at the Eco Power in the play offs.

Our performance again Hunslet was the worst I have witnessed in almost 20 years ,a bad day at the office for virtually the whole team.
This could be the kick up the ar5e the players need to focus on the remainder of the year.

I will not be attending a single game between now and the Dewsbury game.
Just circumstances....
So I look forward to views on the games in between now and then....

Ooh we might have a chance then!

You mean to get a word in?

I've already started believing I am jinx at away games, and I took a friends young lad to a few games a couple of years ago. We lost them all so I never took him again

Squad for Sunday:
[urlhttps://www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk/article/1469/news-|-21-man-squad-named-for-hurricanes-clash[/url

Anything less than 36 on the Handicap and I'll be a player.
(I'm not too hopeful though, I expect Hurricanes to be getting something like 42 or 44).

Wet conditions might perhaps make it lower scoring than normal?

It's an ideal opportunity tfor us to get moving in the right direction.

We could do with N Wales doing us a favour at Dewsbury...

But I can't realistically see that happening.

We'd need to win by 90 to leapfrog Hunslet, although we will still have a game in hand.

Anything from 36-44pts and I'll be on the dons, we have named a strong squad and the opposition have been shipping in the points at a fast rate so fully expect a positive scoreline.

Bet365 ...

Dons -32 10/11
Midlands +32 10/11
Handicap Draw 16/1

I'm surprised but pleased and I'm on ... COYD!

Skybet giving Midlands 34 start. Could be wrong but it would be no surprise (to me) if the Dons Handicap increases before kick off.

https://www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk/ ... re-playing Does anyone else get the vibe from this interview that someone's edging his bets.

https://www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk/ ... re-playing Does anyone else get the vibe from this interview that someone's edging his bets.

(Talking Heads mode) ... Same as it ever was ...

I think Carl had a sense of realism that getting promoted is not going to be easy. The duffing up at Hunslet has probably contributed to a dampened sense of expectation.

With one from three of Dons, Hunslet and Oldham likely to go up, it's odds against that'll it'll be us. That doesn't mean we won't go up but we've got more chance of not going up than going up.

Someone would have to be an extreme optimist to think we've got a better than 50% chance of going up considering what we know about Hunslet and Oldham.

Carl's confidence that we would win the league has taken a knock and the fact we can't say 'we're clearly the second best team in the league' is now a reality.

Throw in the mix that we've got three tricky games left: Workington (A), N Wales (A) and Dewsbury (H), we're going to have to be on our game to finish second.

Midlands recent games:

7th May: Midlands 38, London 20 (+1icon_cool.gif
21st May: Midlands 14, N Wales 42 (-2icon_cool.gif
28th May: Midlands 16, Oldham 50 (-34)
4th June: Midlands 26, Dons 54 (-2icon_cool.gif
18th June: N Wales 62, Midlands 24 (-3icon_cool.gif
25th June: Workington 60, Midlands 10 (-50)
2nd July: Midlands 23, Dewsbury 28 (-5)
9th July: Midlands 22, Hunslet 54 (-32)
16th July: Cornwall 28, Midlands 8 (-20)

Considering we won by 28 at their place, the bookies have probably added four or six points on for home advantage today. The outliers seem to be Midlands 50 point defeat at Workington and their 5 point defeat to Dewsbury.

We seemed to conceded a few soft tries when we played Midlands away. A 40+ point win today ought to be on the cards although if it's tanking down and the ball becomes a bar of soap, 40 could be a challenge. The BBC forecast says there's a 76% chance of rain at 3pm.

If home advantage is worth 6 points, that should create a 12 point turnaround i.e. the Dons were technically 34 points better in the away game plus 6 points today for home advantage = 40 points. I accept it's somewhat hypothetical.

Yes, I see what you mean. I'd just taken the 34 points at face value. Good point.

I think the weather could be worth a couple of tries today. At 1pm it's overcast but I think there's a better chance of it staying dry than the BBC have suggested...

Famous last words, I'll probably get drenched when walking from the car to the stadium!

Rochdale Hornets v London Skolars postponed due to torrential rain.

Sport certainly being hit today ... race meetings cancelled at Redcar & the Curragh and looking increasingly likely to be no play in the Ashes Cricket.

Good luck with the weather. I don't think today's result is in doubt, just the margin of victory.

Is Tom Halliday injured?

We will find out in a couple on months

He will posting on here next