I’m a Doncaster supporter. I’ve seen all the Hull games on Sky this season and watched the Hull lads who have come to Donny on loan and DR. Here’s my feedback:
I believe the general quality of Super League has dipped over the last few seasons whilst the Championship has improved somewhat. There are quite a number of players in Super League who wouldn’t be out of place in sides at the top end of the Championship. The gap between the two divisions is closer now than it has been for a long while.
In some ways this is a good thing as it makes the Middle Eights more interesting, but it’s bad for the Super League product as we need 12 teams of similar abilities in Super League to make every match ultra competitive. The current Super League ‘top four’ seem some way ahead of the rest as the league table indicates.
Most sides in Super League (and the lower leagues) don’t have sufficient strength in depth to be able manage an injury crisis; you’ve had a major injury crisis. The impact for Hull has primarily been that your pack hasn’t had the power to deal with the opposition, constantly putting you on the back foot. Losing Liam Watts was a big loss.
Having your key half-backs out really doesn’t help either but even they would have found it hard to stop the rot given the lack of grunt up front.
With regards to the youngsters, I cannot speak too highly of the commitment they’ve all shown when playing for Doncaster. In our recent game at Whitehaven, the kick-off was delayed for 15 minutes. The players went off but Hakim Miloudi continued to practice his kick-offs and goal-kicking for another 15 minutes (even though he’s not the first choice goal-kicker). During the game, he was going to be tackled ‘in goal’ but put in an amazing kick from under the sticks to his winger who collected the ball to run 30 metres up field. It showed amazing vision and no shortage of skill to execute the move.
Lee Radford doesn’t seem to like him because he plays an unstructured type of game. Hakim’s still young and learning so he will make mistakes but we don’t have enough natural talent in the game to stifle creativity. I consider him to be the League One version of Ben Barba at the moment.
Jez Litten is a player of some potential and needs to be given time. He seems to have a good brain and makes the right choices, especially at our level. He perhaps needs to bulk up physically a bit but you’ve got a good lad there.
Jordan Lane has always tried his best for Donny. Quite what level he’ll be able to aspire to, I’m not sure. He’s certainly a top end Championship-type player, whether he can bridge the gap to be a good quality Super league player, I’m not sure; time will tell.
Liam Harris: When Liam came to you earlier in the season, I thought the move might have come too soon for him. It really is difficult for halves to learn their trade when a team isn’t playing well. He seems to have been targeted defensively by other clubs and he’s suffered accordingly. He shouldn’t be written off. He needs more time and more experience.
Lewis Bienek: Lewis got injured and hasn’t played much for us but he looks a good prospect for the future. He was easily pushed back in the Warrington game but I’m sure he’s better than that. Give him some time and he’ll become a much better player.
Jack Logan: He’s scored a couple of good long-range tries for us but has made a few mistakes defensively too. He’s certainly not ready for Super League at the moment as he doesn’t have the physical size to deal with it. Happy to see him at Doncaster though as he gives 100%.
Jack Sanderson: He’s a handy player at full-back or on the wing. Another who is still learning and needs time. Quite how high he can go, I’m not sure. Not ready for Super League yet.
Cameron Scott: Not seen much of him. He looked out of his depth in your first team recently.
Ross Osborne: I think you may have dropped a clanger letting Ross go. Again he’s not Super League ready but I can see him developing into a really good player. I like his attitude too.
It’s been tough asking the youngsters to come into your first team to help turn things round. I don’t think they should be judged too harshly. Basically, it shows your squad doesn’t have the depth to be able to cope with the injuries you’ve had, but I’m sure every side would have struggled given your circumstances.
I’m used to ‘tough times’ having been a Donny fan for 45 years. The toughest of times we’ve endured recently was when Paul Cooke got us to fourth in the Championship before we went through the next season hardly winning a game, finishing bottom. Once the losing run rot sets in, it is incredibly difficult to turn it around. Paul Cooke lost his job and Gray Thornton came in. Nothing changed and we kept on losing through the rest of the season and got relegated.
The big risk for you at the moment is whether Adam Pearson’s outburst unites the team or splits them. If it splits them, you might need to make more wholesale changes. If the dressing room was already divided, it will now be even more divided. I hope that’s not the case and things pick up during the last few games.
I wish you well against Cas next week. I hope there’s a good, positive reaction from your lads but please don’t play Miloudi as we very much need him to help give us a better chance of promotion!
I’m looking forward to seeing him tomorrow in our match against Newcastle. Pop over and watch the game if you’re not busy, it’s a vital game for us and any help you could give us from the stands would be welcomed.
Thanks for the help you've given us with the DR and Loans this season. Your lads have been a credit to themselves and your club.
