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.

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

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

Here are the details of the Dons and York’s last six matches:

Dons:

Work L 21-22
White W30-22
Barr L10-14
Keigh L24-32
Gloucester W42-4

York:

Barr L19-26
Work W28-18
Keigh L20-22
Tor W26-16
Work W34-0

Using Workington as the yardstick, it looks as though York are better. Taking Barrow as the measure, there’s not much between us. Both sides lost to Keighley but we lost by slightly more. The stand-out result is York turning over Toronto.

The bookmakers think York are the better side because they’re offering 10/11 for a Dons win with a 12 point start. Are York 12 points better than the Dons?

Are York 12 points better than the Dons? I hope not, but if that's the case we will have to accept our position among the Oxfords and Gloucesters.How many are willing to pay for that remains to be seen.

York who at the start of the season had no ground no players or anything else, to have a season like they have had they have really put us to shame both on and off the paddock this year

I make that the last 5 ...
<pedant mode>

www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk Horne wants ........... COYD

www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk Horne wants ........... COYD

Let's hope it doesn't go from ... 'Horne wanting' to ...'Horne found wanting' by Sunday tea-time.
lol

Dons +12 10/11 with Skybet.

This maybe the gin, vodka or Sambuca talking but we have the better squad and I really fancy us to turn them over (expect me on here at 4.40pm being negative again) COYD

I tend to find that I start to believe we’re better than we are after a win and that we’re worse than we are after we’ve lost. It takes a few days after a match for the logical part of my brain to take over the emotional part and for me to see things in a more realistic context.

No doubt, if we win today, I’ll start to hope we might be able to go up. If we lose, we could be out of the play-off places and I’ll feel deflated.

I hope the fans that go can get behind the lads and help give them a lift. I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to make it unfortunately.

Get your brain ready for a loss.
lol

My line of work is statistics so I tend to see things in terms of percentage chances of something happening or not happening.

In terms of today’s result, I’m sort of 60% loss and 40% win – just hoping the 40% win comes good!