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 (8) 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.