Here's the league table positions with points differences and details of everyone's three remaining games:

Toronto 35 +867 White(H), Barr(H), Dons(H)
Barrow 33 +338 Work(H), Tor (A), Keigh(H)
Whitehaven 31 +265 Tor(A), York(H), Work(A)
-----------------------------------------------------------
York 24 +193 Dons(H), White(A), Newc(H)
Dons 22 +117 York(A), Newc(H), Tor(A)
Keighley 20 +181 Newc(A), Work(H), Barr(A)
Workington 19 +5 Barr(A), Keigh(H), White(H)
Newcastle 18 +42 Keigh(H), Dons(A), York(A)

The top three can't be caught. The top side gets automatic promotion. Teams two and three are at home in the play-off semi-finals. Toronto would need to lose two of their three games for Barrow to possibly catch them. It looks like Toronto will be top with Barrow and Whitehaven being at home in the play-offs. Teams four and five will be away in the play-offs.

Newcastle aren't mathematically out of it as they could still get 24 points. They could overtake us if they win all three games and we lose all three. Same applies to Workington, if they won all three they could get 25 points. Newcastle would be out of it if they lose to Keighley in their next game.

The battle for 4th and 5th looks as though it could go right down to the last game but should we beat York and Newcastle, Keighley would have to win all three games including their last match at Barrow. Having said that, Barrow might have guaranteed second place by then and the result might not be as important to them!

There are so many different combinations possible. If we beat York and they then lose at Whitehaven, York could be down to 6th spot. If we lose to York and Keighley win at Newcastle, our fate would almost certainly be out of our hands as Keighley have got a much better points difference.

All things considered, we must win at York.

York had quite a number of players out when they lost 26-19 at Barrow last weekend.

Here's a link to York's website for those interested in going. The only parking near to the ground is on the nearby side streets. Car park details are shown on the link: [urlhttps://yorkcityknights.com/match-day/#gettinghere[/url

Thanks Double Movement for that analysis.
The key to our future progress is, I think, discipline. We have the players to win the next two games provided we don't give away silly penalties. When Newcastle came here a few weeks ago they took the game away from us. I can't believe that our players won't be aware of that when we play them in a couple of weeks time and be prepared for it. Of course a win at York would remove much of the pressure.

The sooner this game is played the better ...

I hope we win of course, but just in case we don't, I would love to be spared the crap articles by players and coach pre game about what is needed/ what is expected etc.
Save that guff for when we win.

And if we lose... please no "it all could have been so different" if this that and the other had occurred or not occurred.

I hate that crap.

There is only one imperative and that is win and only one response if we lose.
We were not good enough.

Now go out and win you bunch of woossers!

I for one have been critical of the club about lack of communication with the fans . The club are dammed if they do & dammed if they do not !

S-O what would you put out next week before the York game , do not want to have issues with you , but everything seems very black & white .

www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/sport/rugby-league COYD

www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/sport/rugby-league COYD

I always look forward to getting the squad news on a Friday afternoon. I'm not overly bothered about match reports as I've probably either seen the game or watched the Twitter feeds. I quite like reading the coach's comments afterwards.

Thanks Danensian. I love rugby and the Dons. I hope by doing some pre-game analysis that it adds to people's interest and hopefully encourages more people to come on here and share their views with us.

It must be a nightmare being a coach - seeing your team give away penalties. I listened to the Keighley game on the radio last weekend and they were giving penalties away all the time. Mike Emmett spent more time talking to the referee in the 80 minutes of the match than most of us spend talking to our wives in a week!

Let's hope we can sort our discipline for the York game.

Yes they have to put something out ... but what they are putting out is dross.
e.g. Player X says "We have to step up to the plate, cut out the silly mistakes and complete our sets.
We know it will be tough because York are a good side and they are hard to beat on their home patch.
They have struck a bit of form and even though they lost they put in a good effort at Barrow.
They will be looking to hold onto 4th place and it won't be easy for us."

"But if we complete our sets kick well and stick to our game plan then we have a good chance."

Sound familiar?

How about ...

"We are going there to win and fully expect to!"
"So get ready York!"

Oh no, that might rev York up and a few of us might go there and cheer the Dons on.

No far better to prevaracate.

Stand-Offish there is an easy solution to your problem. Don't read it.

But how would I know whether it's dross or not ... unless I read it?

Louis Sheriff available , no further action to his sin binning v Workington .

COYD

That's good news. Can we knock off the three tries that Workington scored whilst he was in the bin too?

Well perhaps if RH had intervened and addressed the problem at the time by reshuffling his cards better those tries may have not all have been scored and the game won by the Dons.

Perhaps he did and it failed.
I wasn't there.

But It's a fairly weak argument for a coach to claim that one man down for ten minutes should have made all that difference.
Except that it did happen during that ten minutes.
So the link can be made for a coach looking for excuses.

Harsh?
I care not.

I am not a fan of a fatalistic view of things as though there is little that could have been done.

You can change outcomes by intervention.

www.thestar.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/doncaster-dons COYD

www.thestar.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/doncaster-dons COYD

One of the criticisms I had of Gary Thornton was that he didn't seem to be able to make in game decisions that could make a difference to the outcome of a match. In my opinion, the difference between an "okay coach" and a "good coach" can often be this.

I wasn't at the Workington game either but listened to the radio commentary. The commentator said the players heads seemed to go down after the first try. Whether that was the cause of the second and third tries, I don't know.

But you take my point.
I know guys communicate by radio nowadays and sit like spectators up in the gods for a better view and then relay to guys sitting in the dugout.
Even the great Daryl Powell.

St John bless him was a touchside coach and you could see his interventions.

The link is not as obvious with some of these modern coaches ... give me a coach prowling the touchline like Tony Fisher did anytime .
Barking instructions and showing his passion.

But that's just me.

As for heads going down after one try of a sinbinning, as a coach I would be furious.

The players know they have to ride out the ten minutes and regroup and yes try a little harder for a short time and cover for their mate.

That is more an indicator of a brittle side and truth be told under a lot of pressure at the time of sinbinning anyway.
And as I coach, I would never say that my players had let their heads drop and that furthermore, I had just then watched them with no explanation.

Yes, absolutely, I take your point. I often wonder what words of wisdom are being passed onto the players every time someone comes onto the field and I wonder whether it has benefits or whether it confuses them.

I can understand why a coach prefers to be in the stands as it's often easier to see the bigger picture from up there but the compromise is that the players aren't getting the guidance first hand.

I've never been a coach at any level so I'm probably not in the best position to judge but if I were a coach I'd want an outstanding team leader on the pitch to help with most of the in-game thinking. All the best coaches will have a top organiser on the pitch. I think Castleford probably have a few including Luke Gale and Grant Millington.

The type of messages I'd send out as coach would be simple commands like: increase line speed, condense the defense, attack the left edge more, close down their play-maker, speed up the play the balls, don't let them scoot from dummy-half, get it wider quicker, etc.

You can't start re-inventing the wheel during a match but you can help the team to focus on which aspects of the game they really need to concentrate on. My words of wisdom after a try has been conceded would be: Get your heads up and make sure you score next! Go and do it!!

But I'm just a man in the stands. I really wouldn't like to be a coach.

Some good points of interest here and the one word that sticks out for me in the above posts is BRITTLE. IMO we do lack someone to take the game by the scruff of the neck and give the rest of the side a timely boost. That's were I think the French bloke could be a vital cog, if as posted (elsewhere) he spends sometime with us next season from Hull.

Some good news www.thestar.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/doncaster-dons COYD

Some good news www.thestar.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/doncaster-dons COYD

Quote ="weighman"Some good news www.thestar.co.uk/sport/rugby-le ... aster-dons COYD'" It is, it would appear the coach has a fully fit squad to choose from.

Quote ="weighman"Some good news www.thestar.co.uk/sport/rugby-le ... aster-dons COYD'" It is, it would appear the coach has a fully fit squad to choose from.

Good, because I want no excuses before ... or after ... the game.
We are up for it or we are not ...
We are good enough or we are not ...

Seeeemples!

COYD

www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk 19 man squad announced .

www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk 19 man squad announced .

A fit squad, players all rested and a massive game in front of a big crowd there's zero excuses to why we shouldn't perform (pretty sure the neighbours cousins dog will get the blame though if we lose!), but I'm really confident of a win and looking forward to what should be a good game

I'm probably going to struggle to get to the game due to other family commitments but I've not given up all hope yet!

I reckon it's going to be a close one with discipline and decision-making being key.

We could do with Newcastle beating Keighley.

Just a final word on the implications of the Louis Sherriff yellow card. In a game in which defence depends on 13 players on one side lining up against 13 on the opposing side the loss of one of those players has a massive effect provided the attacking side uses its resources intelligently to create holes in the defensive line. Of course we have all been at games where the depleted side has managed to survive the 10 minutes without conceding but that has been the result of poor attacking play. I don't know if our players' heads went down or not and I set little store by the opinions of radio commentators. The fact is that Workington exploited their advantage to great effect. The lesson to be learned is to play within the laws.

I have still not discovered how Sherriff's crime was heinous enough to warrant a sending off. High tackles happen all the time in rugby league matches. Most of them are accidental and many of the most deliberate and dangerous get no more punishment than a penalty and possibly a strong word. Sherriff is not a dirty player and being one of the shortest players on the pitch would need a ladder to get to head high on many of the Workington players. There appears to be no footage from the match on You Tube. However the decision was made and we suffered.

I am not sure what Richard Horne was supposed to do in the circumstances. For a start he is the wrong side of the whitewash. He can't get his kit on and take the place of the sin binned player. And even if he makes a substitution there are still only 12 men on the pitch.

Moving on to the York match I assume that Horne will have drilled into the players the need to keep their brains unscrambled and not give away penalties. Coupled with that is the need to complete our sets of 6. I believe this match is winnable. Let's hope my faith is rewarded.