Re: Dons vs Barrow Raiders 1st March 2020 @ 3:00pm : Tue Feb 25, 2020 11:02 am  

Stand-Offish wrote:

Although it was beyond our control, as soon as we lost Frankie Mariano, exactly the kind of forward we need, we were in bother.
Then to keep duff forwards, no names mentioned, we were in further trouble.
We got Peltier, let's call him Frankie+,which is the only good thing we have done for the bigger lads division.
These other fringe players, 4 of them, that have been imported are capable journeyman. Not a star among them that I have seen.
We have a core of Rangi, Watson, Beryl and Logan all good playmakers and very tricky on their day.
We have two good wingers in Doherty and Holliday. And we have Tali our mini Yere.
In good conditions and at the Keepmoat we will match anyone if we perform.
In poor conditions we won't be anywhere near as good.
Because we have too many small guys and not enough proper big guys.
So I think where we will be at is in the Hunslet/Keighley mini division, around 3rd or 4th in the table.
Not good enough for automatic promo and at the whim of the gods again in the play offs, although these will be fairer this time around I understand.
I think some fans,are gonna be a tad disappointed at where we are at come Sunday.
Barrow don't have to win, they will win in Cumbria and level it up if they lose, so they can give it a good go and their coach was co-commentator at Worky so will have analysed us ready for Sunday.
Is this a gloomy assessment?
You decide...

To quote from Goodfellas "You are a funny man"

Re: Dons vs Barrow Raiders 1st March 2020 @ 3:00pm : Tue Feb 25, 2020 11:17 am  

Was expecting a detailed response, but am old enough to know that for example after Leo Tolstoy wrote War and Peace, which amounted to 1,225 pages of blood sweat and tears, all it needed was for someone to come on and say ...'what a load of shoite.'
His life's work down the pan....

Re: Dons vs Barrow Raiders 1st March 2020 @ 3:00pm : Tue Feb 25, 2020 12:05 pm  

Stand-Offish wrote:

Was expecting a detailed response, but am old enough to know that for example after Leo Tolstoy wrote War and Peace, which amounted to 1,225 pages of blood sweat and tears, all it needed was for someone to come on and say ...'what a load of shoite.'
His life's work down the pan....

Your kind of book review then Brian.

My belief for Sunday is that we will be up for it. How that turns out is anyone's guess

No apologies for not being more detailed.

Re: Dons vs Barrow Raiders 1st March 2020 @ 3:00pm : Tue Feb 25, 2020 12:07 pm  

You going?

Re: Dons vs Barrow Raiders 1st March 2020 @ 3:00pm : Tue Feb 25, 2020 12:44 pm  

Stand-Offish wrote:

You going?

Oh yes. Big game and I want see how one of our main rivals shape up.

Re: Dons vs Barrow Raiders 1st March 2020 @ 3:00pm : Tue Feb 25, 2020 2:08 pm  

I suspect we’re likely to improve after the first few run outs as we’ve plenty of new guys in the squad. I doubt we were at our peak last Sunday. That’s the good news.

The less good news is that the Worky defeat suggests we’re not easily going to over-run sides (especially away from the Keepmoat) who are going to be vying for the top six places.

I share the concern of others about our ‘forward power’. We’ll ‘beat up’ the little guys but are we going to be able to boss the better teams? We’ve struggled in this area in recent seasons; it's nothing new. The addition of Ross Peltier provides some hope but personally I’d have been looking to ‘beef up’ the front row with two more like him.

We’re likely to be at our best on the firm pitches of summer. The play-off final could take place on a cold, damp, wet day at the end of the season. We don’t want to have to rely on that lottery as conditions could well be against us.

Sunday’s game will be one of the toughest home assignments. A win will give hope we are good enough to win the league, a defeat will weigh heavily on both the fans’ and players’ minds.

We’re probably going to find out ‘where we’re at’ very early in the season. I honestly don't know what the result will be.

I really hope this is going to be our season. The structure of this league is poor as it provides far too few home games. Some of those matches are very uncompetitive as well. We need to get into the Championship so we can look forward to playing the likes of Bradford, Widnes, Leigh, Featherstone, York and Halifax again!

Re: Dons vs Barrow Raiders 1st March 2020 @ 3:00pm : Wed Feb 26, 2020 7:10 pm  

Jack Logan should be available after recovering from illness.

Re: Dons vs Barrow Raiders 1st March 2020 @ 3:00pm : Thu Feb 27, 2020 6:25 pm  

Match preview www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk COYD

Match preview www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk COYD

Re: Dons vs Barrow Raiders 1st March 2020 @ 3:00pm : Thu Feb 27, 2020 7:01 pm  

There's a better one in the Free Press ...

Re: Dons vs Barrow Raiders 1st March 2020 @ 3:00pm : Thu Feb 27, 2020 7:28 pm  

Is that on line or the paper version ?