League Weekly page 26 contains a quote from Carl Hall in reference to next season ... "We've got one or two other surprises which will convince people to buy a season ticket".

Very perceptive our S-O

Not perceptive at all ... Carl said it in his last Dugout sketch, I just regurgitated it that's all.


He will be referring to a couple more midgets no doubt that will excite the crowd while shipping loads of points.

Now can I retire and watch from a distance all the thrilling things to come?
Bye!

No you can't retire! Get yourself back on here with immediate effect!

Quote from the Dons' official website from Gary Thornton:

"It was always going to be a tough ask to get out of this division and it is probably going to be just as hard to get out of next year," added Thornton.

"It is difficult, people have to realise this is a tough competition and a tough league which isn't easy.

"We have to go again next year now, we need strengthen and find out where our weaknesses were this season.

"We need to try and recruit a little bit better, we need to bring in some quality to get out of the division which it is going to take."

Apologies if I've got this wrong but wasn't our coach appointed on the basis that he understood RL at this level?

If that's the case, and coupled with the fact that everyone watching the team has been able to see exactly where the weaknesses have been all season, I think it's time to give up the job.

It's this continuous stream of vacuous comment with nothing concrete to demonstrate any desire to improve the situation that has got me and a many other hardcore supporters well and truly cheesed off this season.

Last season was grim but the nails are really starting to go into the coffin now.

At least we've had hope in the past but I fear this has gone.

Once again, the close season signings will show what the club's intentions are since we've now seen at first hand what is needed to get out of this crappy division.

Carl et al, the ball is in your court.

i thought the same reading those comments, let's look at them ....


"It was always going to be a tough ask to get out of this division and it is probably going to be just as hard to get out of next year," added Thornton.

Then why did you recruit smallish guys that can't defend the line against bigger blokes? Gary, next season it's going to be not just has hard but a lot HARDER!

"It is difficult, people have to realise this is a tough competition and a tough league which isn't easy.

People DID realise it was going to be bloody hard, you lot didn't match the threat with sound recruitment. Too busy rummaging around in the bargain basement!!!

"We have to go again next year now, we need strengthen and find out where our weaknesses were this season.

Find out where your bloody weaknesses were?! Christ!!! It's bloody obvious!!!

"We need to try and recruit a little bit better, we need to bring in some quality to get out of the division which it is going to take."

A little bit better .... a LITTLE bit?! Jesus wept!!!

i can see sky high blood pressure and heart attack coming on here S/O ,its only a game.

I don't have a heart ... I thought people knew.

Ive read GTs after match review of the game and Im absolutely devastated to hear hes a bit "UPSET" in the manor of which we were once again thrashed by a club above us in the league. My firkin heart bleeds for him, How does he think the cash paying supporters feel about the season that never was?. Taxi for Mr Thornton.

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Steady on askernlad will be along to tell you it's only a game ... what like tiddlywinks?
I agree, the coach needs to ditch these euphemisms and tell it like it is.
Has he really got the steel we need in a coach?





Having read that report, it seems that what we could cock up we did just that. Missing two penalty kicks to touch? What numpty does that for the sake of a few extra yards?

Useless completions all over the park by the sound of it.

The first two signings, Carr and Doherty I applaud, but please don't sign up the same people that couldn't hack it. I won't mention names it's unfair, but it's half the squad!

it is only a game S/O.a game im very passionate about.played it i was12 when my sports teacher Tony Sockett said i had a bit of promise.played for Bentley under 17s.joined the RAF and play Rugby Union at station and group level for 12 yrs.join Bentley yarborough when i came out,then went to Askern Miners where i had the honour of playing along side Parky,mark gibbons,allan carr,benny foster,polly jowett and the likes so i do know abit about the game.one of the things that ed me off,was when you were grafting your balls off,and some terrace know all would stand and berate you for a simple error.i dont trounce off and throw my dummie out everytime we,ve been beaten or not played well.i,ve stuck it to the end,cause there my team.try it some time.

Over the last two years we've done a bad job at estimating how good the opposition will be.

To make sure we don't do the same again we need to have a standard by which we judge signings. To be one of the best two teams in the league we need to have players that are amongst the top four players in the league for the position they play. In my opinion, if we sign players below that standard we're not going to have a chance of going up.

If Toulouse go up, and Toronto take the league by storm, we would need to be better than Barrow. Barrow are significantly better than us now. I'm afraid the sad news is that we must replace the majority of the current squad if we want to have any chance of catching Barrow up. And who knows how strong Whitehaven, Workington, York, Keighley and Hunslet might be next year.

If we don't improve we might not even finish in the top four. I would urge the club to recognise the degree of difficulty and make sure we don't come up short for a third season running.

I think its a matter of how much our budget will be for 2017, over to you Club Doncaster !

I have mentioned before that if we were owned by a person/persons who had little resource then I would be positive and support the team even if losing more than winning. The problem is we have been promised better than we have been given and therefore left many of us disappointed which in turn results in many fans becoming critical and negative and for some to stop attending games.

The only way this can be fixed is for the current board to be open and honest about their ambition and how our budget compares with others in our league, if it high and being serious about promotion great, if we fail then the coach takes the blame or if we are working on a lower budget than our opponents fine I can accept this, if the current owners would then sell to someone with greater ambition.

In 2 years we have gone from 4th in the championship to 4th in championship one, and clearly not good enough to get promoted. That doesn't sound like our owners are ambitious, or do changes need making in the coaching department.

Can we please have some answers.

That's not me sorry ...

Rugby players have my respect though, I wouldn't do it.

And I have been a Don's supporter for thirty years ...I don't suppose that counts.
Most have fallen by the wayside, perhaps you're talking to the wrong person.

I fully agree with you rugblyman. Well said.

My views entirely ....
It is not that we are not Dons supporters, we clearly are, a bit rebellious maybe, it is as you say the mismatch between what is PROMISED and what is delivered that annoys folk.
Just be honest about our prospects.
Talking promotion and hiring players with limited talents and with unrealistic expectations dumped on them makes the club look like unrealistic cheapskates.

This is what was said in June 2015 www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk/a ... -with-carl

This is what was said in June 2015 www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk/a ... -with-carl

seen it ,heard it ,witnessed it.im 65 now and been a supporter for 50 of them except during my service in the RAF,so i dont suppose that counts.maybe its your alter ego i see.

Sorry I can't help on that, try to ignore him.
Besides which, others are saying similar things so why not have a pop at them too?
Why single me out?

Spats between posters are boring to other posters .....
And on that note, cheerio for a while.

dear Mr Askernlad, I dont think S/offish is "having a pop" at you or any other supporter on here , All the genuine dons fans on here are and have been saying the same things all season. When GT came to power he promised big changes better / fitter players that never happened, He was supposed to understand this league he obviously does not, C H and G T, have completely ignored all the pleas from the fans for more info about whats happening within the club, ie injured players , fringe players, team news ect ect, we have all been mushrooms for a whole season. I cant wait for "in the dugout" tomorrow (if there is one) to see if Carl will give an honest review of what we have achieved this season. We are ALL disapointed with whats gone off this season and the people running the club should be honest and man enough to admit they got it wrong. The club cannot afford to keep losing its fans at the rate we are, were down to the bare bones as it is.

Have you asked a question Harworthon .

have I asked who, a question.

Carl "in the dug out".

in my opinion the club should do all it can to keep the paying fans up to speed with whats happening within the club, everything seems to be a secret ie injuries, players still at the club players who have left, we have players listed in the program that have never put a shirt on. The questions asked in the dugout are the questions I would probably ask anyway.