Pipped by Newcastle ... not even a playoff game.

Feel free to post your thoughts on a wonderful season.

Finishing 6th in a poor league isn't acceptable for a club with aspirations.

Problem is, the buck doesn't seem to stop anywhere...

We didn't deserve to reach the play offs.

Things that I see where we went wrong:-
1)Poor recruitment , including signing on injured players.
2) Poor coach(GT) & the players didn't seem to want to play for him .
3) Format of the league ,but that was the same for everyone .
4) Too much spin about budgets & players abilities .
Hopes:-
1) RH is given a chance to pick his own squad .
2) We do not retain too many of the 2017 team even if some are on 2 year contracts .
3) Not too much spin about record budgets & season ticket sales .
4) Better communication between management & fans .
5) Scrap ITD
6) Ditch the Dual Reg policy.
7) The RFL change the format for C1 in 2018 , having home & away fixtures , even if it means reducing the number of clubs .

I have never liked D-Reg , we should bring on & play our own players .
Its nothing to do with Hull , any way the players we had yesterday were on loan, none had qualified by dual reg not even Rawsthorne .

Hull & other SL clubs should have reserve teams to bring on their own players after playing U19.

Just my humble opinion Bonaire .

We probably finished where we deserved to finish. We’ve been holding onto hopes of getting into the play-offs but in our heart of hearts most of us haven’t been convinced all season that we were amongst the best two teams in the league.

Fundamentally, the recruitment wasn’t good enough. If ever we needed evidence to show what we’ve been missing in the halves, Miloudi showed it to us last night in the Toronto game. The half-backs simply haven’t produced the goods. Jordon Howden was our main hope and he was never fit.

To play the expansive game that Richard Horne wants to play, it’s critical to have pace out wide and players who have a side-step. We really need to be looking to bring in players of the calibre of Craig Hall and Liam Kaye at Toronto as they’re the types who can change games.

We’ve improved defensively since Richard Horne’s arrival. We were very poor under GT. Whilst we’ve tried to play a more entertaining, expansive style of rugby we’ve not been able to find a way to win the close matches.

We tried the youth route with Paul Cooke and it failed. We tried the experienced forwards route under GT and that failed. We've got to sign enough players with sufficient class as well as finding the right blend of youth and experience.

We've certainly benefited from our links with Hull but the weakness of relying on players on D/R and Loans is that you can never be sure they're going to be available to play. If they're key players in your team, in critical positions, it causes mayhem when they're recalled.

It'd be great if we could get Monsieur Miloudi on a year long loan, as I'm sure that would help Hull in the long-term too, but what happens if Albert Kelly, Mark Sneyd, or Jamie Shaul gets injured? We end up having a huge void to fill.

I fully agree the poor recruitment of Gary Thornton is why we've under-performed this season.

We need to try to build a team that isn't dependent on DR/Loans and then use DR/Loans to supplement a strong squad of our own.

Most were bemoaning the arrival of Toronto this time last year but next season won't be much different with the mighty Bulls, a decent Oldham side, at least two Cumbrian clubs, York, Keighley and Newcastle most of whom are at least as good as the Dons. Even sixth place next season may be tricky....

Spot on Sanjunien.

It's going to be an incredibly tough league next season which is why we must aim high with our recruitment or else we run the risk of coming up short again.

May be a change of format , rumoured 14 in C & C1 for 2018.

And i'll still bang on about changing the policy of signing OAPs instead of young hopefuls and/or experienced senior players with still a lot to offer. For example, I was speaking with an ex French international player last evening who is looking for a job next year after maybe a French season in their Elite division from october to april. However, I could never imagine a club like Donny taking such an initiative..
Recruitment is the key of course and i'm confident RH will deliver IF he's allowed a bit freedom to operate.

The fact is to top this division a club has to construct a side that would challenge for honours in the league above.
That should be the benchmark ... a team that could beat such as Batley and Dewsbury and give the likes of Halifax and Featherstone a game.
I'm serious!

We can't afford that, I bet, so the other simple fact is we need to negotiate some season long class from Hull to help us. With its drawbacks to boot.

Barrow can get twice the crowd we get, so they at least they have a start.

I honestly can't see how Donny can top this league without Club Doncaster going out on a limb and going for it.

Don't think they will after this awful year.

So I think we are in the shiite! .....

Also the management need to realise that the Dons have to be in the top two all the time ... and from the get go.
Otherwise they will NOT get an increase in the base crowd of 500 they command thus far.

Also the last few years including Paul Cooke's last were notable for recruitment that was not notable.

With only a few exceptions, and those being players who had played their best rugby some time back, as each player was signed, the question 'who?' came straight to mind.
We were dragging nobodies from wherever we could at basement money.
Hardly likely to build a great side or rev up support.
That has GOT to stop!

After constant periods of poor performance & under achievement in any business the buck stops at the Chief Executives door.