Quote ="Moonshine"Talk to you about this at the next home game - not the one 20 odd mile away The Workington fans perspective www.totalrl.com/forums/index.php ... NewComment'" They said what I said that we were 'very, very poor, and they expected more from a top 4 side'

Quote ="Moonshine"Talk to you about this at the next home game - not the one 20 odd mile away The Workington fans perspective www.totalrl.com/forums/index.php ... NewComment'" They said what I said that we were 'very, very poor, and they expected more from a top 4 side'

Don't worry, there's always the five-year plan.........

Quote ="Moonshine"Talk to you about this at the next home game - not the one 20 odd mile away The Workington fans perspective www.totalrl.com/forums/index.php ... NewComment'" Wow ... Pretty awful Very poor Never a threat Very ordinary The home supporters far from impressed by the Dons.

Quote ="Moonshine"Talk to you about this at the next home game - not the one 20 odd mile away The Workington fans perspective www.totalrl.com/forums/index.php ... NewComment'" Wow ... Pretty awful Very poor Never a threat Very ordinary The home supporters far from impressed by the Dons.

Sorry sanjunien but all negative posts will be subject to scorn and all visas of posters will be revoked lol

Does that mean I won't be allowed to watch another home game when next in the UK ?
PHEW, wot a relief !!!

Humour is also banned and any one found guilty will be subject to watching in the dugout continuessly lol

I don't suppose there are too many laughs around the Keepmoat nowadays ?

I hear Kane Bentley is looking for a club, Donny could do a lot worse....

I think he would be a good asset to the club but we are in denial about needing quality players even though the management say we have hundreds of billions to spend on the right players

No ... but the coach says we are good to go.
And he should know.

Here’s my take on everything...

The challenge of winning the league and getting in front of Bradford was always going to be a difficult one. They deservedly beat us at home and looked better than York.

Our realistic aim was always to get into the top five to make the play-offs. We’re then two games away from promotion. I don’t particularly like this system as the second placed team is the one that probably deserves to go up, but like it or not, they’re the rules. It doesn’t matter how well you might play during the regular season, second place doesn’t win promotion.
In effect, the regular season is a joust for places with the real business starting when the play-offs arrive. Our aim is to get there.

We were made to look better than we are by the way the early season fixtures fell.

We’ve under-performed in a number of games with the loss at Workington looking particularly bad. Not making excuses but this game needs to be put into perspective. We were without Richard Owen, Ross Osborne, and Charlie Martin. In my view, they are three key players we need in the side.

Looking at the longer-term picture for the play-offs, the best side we could put out would also include Liam Harris, Hakim Miloudi, and Frankie Mariano. In effect, the Workington side was at least six players short of the best team we could put out in a ‘play off’ game.

No team is ever at its best in every game. Wigan had a ‘crisis’ after losing three games running; they came back to beat Hull at the weekend. Wakefield went on a losing run of five or six games but bounced back to beat Wigan and Warrington recently. Huddersfield are getting their act their act together after a bad start. The same applies to Catalans. If there is a common theme to under-performing, it is generally influenced by not having your best starting team playing.

Each defeat exposes weaknesses and limitations. All teams have them. Each defeat knocks the players’ confidence. Without confidence, a performance can drop off by up to 30% to 40%. That’s huge. I believe the one positive thing the fans can do is to get behind the players and help them, as we did in the home match against Keighley. I thought the fans were great in that game.

Performances have clearly slipped since our peak. We probably peaked when we ‘nilled’ Newcastle at home in the cup. We’ve obviously got work to do to make the top five and the play-offs. I’m sure the coaching staff can see what needs to be done to put things right even if they won’t (or can’t) admit it in public. People like Peter Green and Rhys Lovegrove have been round the rugby league block a few times. I’m sure Richard Horne can turn to Lee Radford for advice if he feels he needs it too.

Sure, we’re not in the position in the league that we’d like to be in but the business part of the season is just about getting going. We’ve got to make the top five, providing we do that and get our best team out, playing with confidence at the end of the season, we’re by no means out of the race.

That's all fair comment DM but with respect, has the club actually moved forward from say, the PC days ? or even the TM days for that matter ? I think most of us know the answer......

If not then WHY ?

I don't buy into what might be ... only what IS NOW.

When we went to Oldham we HAD a good squad/side and we flopped.
Yes if we had Harris and Miloudi that might kick start us ... but we don't NOR much chance of getting them.
Shaul has a bad heel now to add to the equation.

Our actual form with the actual team at our disposal is at Crusaders cum London level.

We have little confidence and next to no attacking potency.

Two of our senior marquee type players are a big flop.

We can't even set Tali up to score ...

It will continue ...

Isn't the objective of any club in any sport to evolve ?
Sometimes change is needed to go forward.
Toulouse for example, with heirarchy much poorer than The Dons have tried to go to the next level.They have a long way to go but the improvements on and off the field over the past few years are very noticeable.

A question was posed on Facebook as to if fans thought we were better, worse or the same this season as last ... my response ...

It's becoming increasingly difficult to consider that we are any better this season than last.

There may be some truth in the fact that problems away from our club (i.e Hull's injury situation) have impacted on us but that will only add weight to the arguments presented by those who say DR isn't really working for us.

At the season launch, we were presented with 4 players on season long loans but then quickly told that wasn't actually the case and we would be offered players from Hull based on availability and Richard Horne's requirements.

We have so far used 9 players as part of this agreement with only Jack Sanderson (10) and Jack Downs (icon_cool.gif featuring in more than 5 games. Personally, I'd prefer a more consistent team selection. For the record, 30 different players have been used so far in 16 league and cup fixtures.

Also, at the aforementioned season launch it was announced that we had signed two players on 2 year deals, unfortunately, one of those, our playmaker is now with Hull with no guarantees on availability to us and no replacement having been recruited.

Sadly, by 6pm next Sunday it is probable that the Dons will sit 9th in League One ... no, I don't really consider that we are any better this season than we were last.

It’s a sad state of affairs when fans are having to thank an individual player on Facebook for recognising then and not just walking straight from the field because the majority couldn’t be bothered.
It’s quite worrying how quiet the team were out on the field there seems to be no team spirit at all other than a few leaders shouting at intervals. But not our actual leader.

I've just seen that the kick off at Bradford next Sunday has been put back an hour to 4pm (World Cup -England) Can we kick off at 3 still in an effort to try and get a lead when the Bulls come out at 4.

I salute the few that make the Cumbrian trips ... not so long ago I would consider going up there and often did ...
But I went with an anticipation of us possibly winning and of us certainly having a go.
The few who go nowadays I should think imagine a wasted journey.

We have reverted to beating the lower sides and losing to the upper sides ... especially away.

We would still lose ...

You make some good points. Here are my thoughts...

We made a big mistake when we finished fourth in the Championship under Paul Cooke. That was our opportunity to press on and become a top side in that league. I did say at the time that I thought we were lucky to finish fourth as quite a few close games went our way. We almost certainly weren’t the fourth best team in the league.

We recruited very poorly for the following season and got relegated in quite dramatic fashion. Paul Cooke didn’t become a bad coach. Even when he got sacked he was still well regarded and well respected by the fans. It goes to show that even a very good coach can’t make a poor team win. We then made a mistake that set us back further by recruiting the wrong man for the job in Gary Thornton.

When things go wrong they can’t always be fixed quickly. A ship has to be turned round before it can move forwards, I think we need to give Richard Horne and the coaching staff two full seasons to get this sorted.

The Dons and Hunslet were relegated in 2015. Workington and Whitehaven came down in 2016-17. All four teams have found it hard to get out of this league.

I do share everyone’s concerns about where we seem to be at the moment. Our aim isn’t to peak in June though, it’s got to be to get into the top five and then peak for the play-offs. I don't believe that now is the right time to be deciding whether we've moved forward. That decision is better made at the end of the season.

Fletcher Christison is conspicuous by his absence

He is not absent on match days though.

I'm sure you mean Fletcher Christian, that ship has sailed.

He's a glutton for punishment

Yes some of us are .

Is that because he changed his name from Fletcher Christian?