Thanks for the RH link DM.

Why is it that coaches feel the need to remind us reasons for some of the shortcomings of their team ?

RH said :

“They are a very clinical team and are full-time and have a bigger budget than we have and you could see that.”

Everyone knows the different budget makes a difference. Just about every coach interviewed at Toulouse since they came back to the C1 & C uses the budget excuse and the 'full-time' excuse. Why repeat the bleedin' obvious each time ?
If for example, the curent Dons squad trained full time would they be challenging Bradford at the top ? Answer 'no' because they don't have the same quality players. How for example can Fax compete at the top of the C against bigger budgets and full time squads ? Because they are coached better and the squad has been better recruited to name but two reasons.
fact is the current Dons squad doesn't look anywhere near good enough to compete at even this level so the reasons for this need to be addressed. Maybe RH is the right man but surely you can't polish a turd ?

I don't suppose it matters greatly but it is incorrect to state that the Bulls are full time. Some of the players are full time, several are part time. The owner describes it as a hybrid model. I'm sure it causes a number of problems, not least being the availability of players for training sessions. I would imagine that we have a decent budget for League 1.

How it stands on Sunday night 1st July:

1 Bradford 15 14 0 1 705 169 536 28
2 York 15 13 0 2 655 192 463 26
3 Hunslet 15 11 0 4 445 308 137 22
4 Oldham 15 10 0 5 496 182 314 20
5 Worky 15 10 0 5 497 283 214 20
6 Dons 15 9 0 6 507 327 180 18
7 Whitehaven 15 9 0 6 468 303 165 18
8 Keighley 15 8 0 7 568 377 191 16
9 Newcastle 15 8 0 7 466 314 152 16

Hunslet won 19-18 with a disputed drop goal at North Wales. Workington sprung something of a surprise winning 16-14 at Oldham. Keighley lost at Whitehaven. York beat Newcastle.

With Oldham losing, it's tightened things up a bit. It really does look like a dog fight to finish in the top five.

Next weekend's games:

Bradford v Newcastle, London v Coventry, Hemel v Keighley, N Wales v Whitehaven, Oldham v West Wales, Workington v Hunslet, York v Dons.

Whitehaven might have a game on their hands at N Wales. Keighley should win. Either Worky or Hunslet will drop points. We've got a toughie at York. Newcastle are unlikely to improve on their present 16 points.

Fixtures for the weekend after:

London v York, Hunslet v Bradford, Dons v West Wales, Keighley v Oldham, Newcastle v N Wales, Workington v Whitehaven, Coventry v Hemel.

Hunslet may have two losses to their name after the next two games. That'll bring them back into the pack. Workington or Whitehaven will drop points. Keighley v Oldham is a big game.

If we could get a win at York, it would really do our chances a great deal of good but I suspect it may be a step too far. Our key matches remain the forthcoming games away at Hunslet and at home to Oldham. I'm sure there'll be plenty of twists and turns along the way as most teams, apart from Bradford and York, in the top nine are capable of losing to each other if slightly off their game.

Good summing up DM. Crusaders fans have posted that the Hunslet drop goal went 2ft underneath the crossbar. On this tread is the video of the 'drop goal' WTF its a shocker www.totalrl.com/forums/index.php ... NewComment

Good summing up DM. Crusaders fans have posted that the Hunslet drop goal went 2ft underneath the crossbar. On this tread is the video of the 'drop goal' WTF its a shocker www.totalrl.com/forums/index.php ... NewComment

You can see the Hunslet drop goal here:

[urlhttps://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/hunslet-coach-shrugs-off-drop-goal-controversy/[/url

How it stands on Sunday night 8th July:

1 Bradford 16 15 0 1 729 173 556 30
2 York 16 14 0 2 686 208 478 28
3 Oldham 16 11 0 5 598 188 410 22
4 Worky 16 11 0 5 525 301 224 22
5 Hunslet 16 11 0 5 463 336 127 22
6 Haven 16 10 0 6 490 317 173 20
7 Keighley 16 9 0 7 600 393 207 18
8 Dons 16 9 0 7 523 358 165 18
9 Newcastle 16 8 0 8 470 338 132 16

The Dons lost at York as I expected they probably would. The other results of interest were that Bradford only beat Newcastle by 24-4, so I don't think Newcastle can be completely be written off as top five contenders. Hunslet lost 28-18 at Workington which helped to further condense the placings as four points cover third to eighth.

With several influential players leaving Keighley, they only managed to beat Hemel by 32-16. I'm writing off Keighley's chances of a top five finish. Assuming Bradford and York are guaranteed a top five finish, that leaves three places available from Oldham, Workington, Hunslet, Whitehaven, Dons, and Newcastle.

On the positive side for the Dons, with 10 games left to play, we have not got to play either Bradford or York again. Looking at the fixtures, Hunslet, Whitehaven, Workington, and Oldham have all got to play both. Newcastle have got to play neither. Six of those fixtures occur from 19th August through to the end of the season. Only Hunslet at Bradford and Bradford at Whitehaven take place between 15th July and 5th August. Most of the 'big games' are all stored up for later.

At the beginning of this thread, I suggested that nothing much would change for the Dons between then and now. Nothing much will change next weekend either. The first of several critical games are Hunslet away and Oldham at home in the following two weeks. If we win both of those games, I would suggest we'll have more chance of finishing in the top five than not finishing in the top five, bearing in mind most of our competitors will drop points against York and Bradford. If we lose both games, we'll really be up against it. If we win one and lose one, we're still in with a chance but there will be little scope to drop points in any of the other games.

Next weekend's games:

Dons v W Wales; London v York; Hunslet v Bradford; Workington v Whitehaven; Newcastle v N Wales; Coventry v Hemel; Keighley v Oldham

Bradford should be too good for Hunslet. I doubt Oldham will drop points at Keighley. Something must give in the Worky v Whitehaven game.

The signing of Matty Beharrell has certainly added something to our team. Although we lost at York, we proved that we can compete with them. We're likely to have to beat them (away) if we're going to be promoted. Whilst this is a tall order, we can still do it.

Here's my assessment of our promotion chances:

I rate our chances of a top five finish at around even money. I think the table is slightly skewed against us at the moment as we've played more 'tougher' games than the rest. We seem to have come out of the other side of our crisis of confidence and some positives will be taken by the players from the York match.

If we finish 4th or 5th, we'll be away in the play-off first round, perhaps at Oldham or one of the Cumbrian teams. We'd not be favourites to win. I'd price that up at 5/4 against. If we won that and faced York away in the play-off final, again we'd be underdogs. I'd price that up at 6/4 against.

If my assessments are right, it means we have a 50% chance of reaching the play-offs and and our odds to get promoted are 10.25 to 1; that's around a 9% chance of going up.

Should we manage to finish third and get a home tie in the play-off semi-final, we'd be 4/5 to win that match and then 6/4 in an away game at York, reducing our promotion odds to 8/1, or around an 11% chance.

Of course, much can happen between now and then. It's not beyond the realms of possibility that Whitehaven's financial crisis could deepen. Hopefully, it won't as no one likes to see teams struggle to survive.

Our stresses start in two weeks' time, until then, we can rest more easily. I'm away on holiday from Monday 16th July so I'll miss the Hunslet game. That's not very good timing, is it?!



Two edits: As Moonshine said, my holiday is in July and not August, and the Cumbrain teams has now been amended to Cumbrian! Sorry about that!

I have missed a few games recently being abroad and such ... we lost every one ... so good timing.

I've signed the petition to close the border.

Thanks for that. I was needing a cool drink and a rest by the time I got to the last couple of paragraphs. Hence the cock-ups!

Bienek won't be available for another 3-4 weeks - torn hamstring following the 70m run from the kick off against Bradford

12th July: Keiran Cross thinks we'll make the top five:

[urlhttps://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/doncaster-rlfc-i-definitely-think-we-ll-make-the-top-five-kieran-cross-1-9247785[/url

All remaining 10 games are winnable.
If we were any good we would win the lot barring injury additions.

But we usually lose at Hunslet and Whitehaven... so some work to do.

All to no avail no doubt ... but I would be saying to my players 'look York are a damn good side who deserve to get promoted, so let's nick it off 'em and really p/ss them of!!!'

Sunday 15th July:

This weekend's results:

The Dons beat W Wales. After I wrote Keighley’s chances off last week they won at home to Oldham 15-8. That is a good result for the Dons. Hunslet lost 36-16 at home to Bradford as expected. Workington lost 22-24 at home to Whitehaven. This is also potentially a good result for us as the third placed side is only two points ahead of us. York scraped home 22-20 at London Skolars. Newcastle’s chances have been seriously hampered by their 20-24 home defeat to N Wales.

With nine games left to go, the top five race looks as though it’s going to be tense right up to the last round of games.

League Table:

1. Bradford 17 16 0 1 765:189 32
2. York City 17 15 0 2 708:228 30
3. Oldham 17 11 0 6 606:203 22
4. Workington 17 11 0 6 547:325 22
5. Whitehaven 17 11 0 6 514:339 22
6. Hunslet 17 11 0 6 479:372 22
7. Doncaster 17 10 0 7 625:364 20
8. Keighley 17 10 0 7 615:401 20
9. Newcastle 17 8 0 9 490:362 16
10. Crusaders 17 6 1 10 375:424 13
11. London Skolars 17 4 1 12 444:573 9
12. Coventry 16 3 0 13 206:738 6
13. Hemel 17 1 0 16 204:824 2
14. West Wales 16 0 0 16 106:1342 0

Next week’s fixtures:

Coventry v Keighley (I would expect a Keighley win), W Wales v Worky (Should be plain sailing for Worky), Bradford v York (York could come back to the pack a little bit if they lose), Newcastle v Hemel (Newcastle should get back to winning ways), Whitehaven v London (Should be a home win), Oldham v N Wales (Oldham might not have it all their own way. An away win would suit us), Hunslet v Dons (the first of two vital games for the Dons).

If we lose we’ll probably be four points adrift of the top five with eight games left.

The fixtures for the following weekend:

London v Bradford, Hemel v W Wales, York v Coventry, Dons v Oldham, Keighley v Hunslet, Whitehaven v Newcastle, N Wales v Worky.

I’m away on holiday for week from Monday 16th July so I’ll miss the Hunslet game. I really hope we can get our own back on them!

Keighley have lost today at Coventry 30 - 20, well done to the Bears.

Workiington's result against West Wales is an interesting one too!

York rumoured to be signing ex NRL player Joel Edwards to add to the 2 players they have signed from Leeds. Looks like their further strengthening before the play offs.

I think we need to get a couple of forwards in. It’s ok Carl saying we have 10 Hull lads we can pick from on duel reg but the problem is most of them are playing for Hull at the minute.

We need forwards ... and the couple they lent got injured.
If we don't go up that is why ... lack of beef up front.

Monday 23rd July:

I'm now back from my holiday. I was very pleasantly surprised to see the Dons win at Hunslet last Sunday.

The current league table standings are as follows with 8 games left:

1. Bradford 18 16 0 2 793:219 32
2. York City 18 16 0 2 738:256 32
3. Oldham 18 12 0 6 656:209 24
4. Workington 18 12 0 6 593:331 24
5. Whitehaven 18 12 0 6 542:357 24
6. Doncaster 18 11 0 7 655:378 22
7. Hunslet 18 11 0 7 493:402 22
8. Keighley 18 10 0 8 635:431 20
9. Newcastle 18 9 0 9 532:376 18
10. Crusaders 18 6 1 11 381:474 13
11. London Skolars 18 4 1 13 462:601 9
12. Coventry 17 4 0 13 236:758 8
13. Hemel 18 1 0 17 218:866 2
14. West Wales 17 0 0 17 112:1388 0

I've listed below the next four games for each of the promotion contenders with my best guesses as to who will win, totalling up the expected points, and shown the possible table after 22 games:

[uBradford[/u: London (A) WIN, Haven (H) WIN, N Wales (A) WIN, Worky (H) WIN; 8 Points
[uYork[/u: Coventry (H) WIN, N Wales (H) WIN, W Wales (A) WIN, Hunslet (H) WIN; 8 Points

It's hard to see either of these teams dropping points but Bradford have two trickier home games against the Cumbrain sides. York have a potentially tricky home game against Hunslet.

[uOldham[/u: Dons (A) Lose, Hemel (A) WIN, Haven (H) WIN, Newcastle (A) WIN; 6 Points

I'm siding with a Dons win next Sunday against Oldham. Oldham should be favourites to beat Whitehaven at home but may have to fight for a win at Newcastle. I see them getting 6 points out of their next 8.

[uWorky[/u: N Wales (A) WIN, Keighley (H) WIN, Coventry (H) WIN, Bradford (A) Lose; 6 points. Worky's only loss should be at Bradford. I expect Keighley to fade over the next few games.

[uWhitehaven[/u: Newcastle (H) WIN, Bradford (A) Lose, Oldham (A) Lose, Dons (H) WIN; 4 points. I fear that Whitehaven may beat the Dons but I can see Haven losing to Bradford and Oldham. They've got a long injury list at the moment and that could play a part too. Their injury situation could play a major part in the match against the Dons.

[uDons[/u: Oldham (H) WIN, Coventry (A) WIN, London (A) WIN, Haven (A) Lose; 6 points. We were poor when we lost at Oldham. I feel quietly confident about this weeken'd game. Realistically, we must get at least 6 points out of the next 8. If we lose on Sunday, it cranks the pressure up on needing to win at Whitehaven. Maybe we shouldn't take Coventry and London for granted (especially London) but they're games we simply can't afford to lose.

[uHunslet[/u: Keighley (A) WIN, W Wales (A) WIN, Hemel (H) WIN, York (A) Lose; 6 points. It would certainly be better for the Dons if Hunslet lost at Keighley but I think Mr Thornton's men will grab the points. With a loss at York, I can see them getting 6 points out of the next 8.

[uKeighley[/u: Hunslet (H) Lose, Worky (A) Lose, Newcastle (H) WIN, London (A) WIN; 4 points. I wrote Keighley off in my write up a couple of weeks ago before they went on to beat Oldham at home. A loss at Coventry last weekend perhaps suggests where they're really at after the losing several key players recently. They might not even beat Newcastle and London as I've assumed. I can't see then challenging now.

[uNewcastle[/u: Haven (A) Lose, London (H) WIN, Keighley (A) Lose, Oldham (H) Lose; 2 points. Newcastle are the team who can't really afford to drop any more points as they're behind the rest already. To stay in the race they would need to get at least 6 points from their next four games. I may have slightly under-estimated them but I can't see them being realistic top five candidates.

[uProjected table after 22 games[/u:

Bradford 40
York 40
Oldham 30
Worky 30
Whitehaven 28
Dons 28
Hunslet 28
Keighley 24
Newcastle 20

With the way the fixtures have fallen, it doesn't look as though all that much will change over the next four games although I expect to see Keighley and Newcastle drop down the pecking order. The best the Dons can get is 30 points if they beat Oldham and Whitehaven (as well as winning the two 'easier' games. The worst we should do after 22 games is 26 points.

I'll include the fixture details for the last four matches after the Oldham game has been played.

I believe that one of the teams in the race for places 3 to 5 will go on a roll and so there will be only 2 places up for grabs for the others.
But I also believe that the side going on the roll will be the Dons.
Thanks to Matty Beharrell.
And Jez Litten if we can keep him.

Got a funny feeling Litten will be recalled, unless RH can persuade Radford otherwise.

Glad to see Jez is going well for you

In Kes and Litten we have, IMO, the perfect combination of hookers. Kes is experienced, defensively very strong, puts defenses on the back foot when near their own line and knows the tricks of the trade. Litten is quick and tricky, gets defences worry from longer range and can get around the pitch quickly

Kes and Jez ... they go together like an arab and a fez.

Lovely