Well only last week GT said in the press that it would be great if we can hang on to wilko

He was one of the names mentioned bound for York unfortunately . I overheard him telling someone that they had signed him and wanted him to bulk up over the closed season ready for next year.
It looks very much a case of York "showing us (or them the players) the money"

Just in case you are all unaware Show Me The Money UK are own and run by former Dons Chairman Craig Harrison who abandoned the club the moment the final hooter sounded on first ever Victory in a final (on our second appearance in one).

This side had quality but all of which was quickly moved on to other better paying clubs, I wonder who the agent for Luke Gayle, Zeb Luisi, Kyle Briggs et al were....I'd put decent money on it being the same guy.

I believe the club have learnt from the mistakes of this season, firstly appointing a coach with experience of championship and championship one rugby, and also knows many of the players within these leagues.

I can't understand the fascination of wanting to sign so called name players, I remember John Wright signing 17 of them when we moved to the keepmoat, and what a massive success that was. I believe you need committed and hungry players who want to play for the club, and show the same passion like Kyle kesick and Shaun leaf. Yes I agree you need a blend of youth and experience, many young players come with a point to prove to super league clubs who don't feel they are ready to play at that level, there are current players in super league who have dropped to lower levels previously and then earned themselves another bite of the cherry.

If some of the current squad wish to leave for more money then fine, a couple of players have already signed on less money because they want to play for the Dons, at the end of the day they have failed collectively this season and failure doesn't justify the same reward as success.

I am confident if we sign the players GT and PG want we will be in with a good chance of promotion .

I bought a season ticket because I believe we will be competive next season, but the main resason is I support Doncaster rugby league club, and owners and employees come and go, I am aware some employees also support the club as well and will always do so.
COYD.

Actually Rugblyman the season we moved to the Keepmoat we signed very few named players at all especially when we rebranded to the lakers, we employed an unheard of Aussie coach and failed miserably. Phil Windley took over later and brought in even more terrible players.

However when we signed decent named players both under St John Ellis and later under Ellery Hanley and even under Tony Miller (Paul Cooke et al) we had some very successful years.

A mix of experience and youthful enthusiasm is indeed required all we have signed so far is the promise of Jam tomorrow (Craig Harrisons Jam), I fully support GT and PG and they we have a good mix, I do wonder how much say they are having over the players brought in as we only seem to be browsing the SMTMUK catalog exclusively at the moment.

There are 29 rugby league agents registered with the RFL including Shane Miller and Craig Harrison. Shane Miller owns Custom Sports Management Limited. As mentioned, Craig Harrison owns Show Me The Money (UK) Limited.

What a magnificent historian you are Steve but how can you say that you support GT and PG when all you can do is moan about the players signed through the Craig Harrison agency. How many more times does it have to be said that the names of established players cannot be released yet because of being on contracts with their current clubs.The lads signed so far are of a much better pedigree than those signed by Cooke at the start of this season and will also benefit from a long and hard pre season's training thus enabling them to get established in the squad. In a few weeks when I assume most of the signings will have been made,that will be the time to air your criticism about who the signings are and which stable they have come from if you are still not happy.

Its hardly ancient history its 10 years or so ago, this cannot announce players because they are in contract is still fishy to me every other club is happy to name names but we shall wait until the post season to see who we sign.

I dont think we can make a judgement on the players we've signed so far based on a short highlight video thats designed only to show the good parts of their game.

I shall not comment further until the signing are announced

This is my first post , but I feel things are being left unsaid. I know that the club didn't even have the decency to speak to most of the current squad about weather they would be retained or not, which has upset a lot of the players.
Most of the team are heading to York , And feel the club have been very unprofessional in there dealings.
I know this season hasn't been great but that isn't just down to the players ,the Chairman and CEO must shoulder a large portion of blame.
I don't think that the money offered is such a big factor in the players decisions to leave , it is the way they have been treated by the previously mentioned Hall and Scarrow that has been a large bearing on their decision.
All the lads have jobs ,work full time and have to get a work ,life ,rugby balance which is sometimes hard on partners and family . Money is not the be all and end all but for me you need to have mutual respect between players , coach and CEO .
The player respect the coach but that is it , professionalism works both ways Mr Hall.

Welcome to the forum, it seems you are either a player or someone very close to at least one of them, obviously you know more about the situation than I do. I do find your comments somewhat disturbing, but would need more facts to make a judgment on it.

That is what was being said by players and their families in the bar Sunday ,
one of our top performers over the last couple of years has signed for another Championship club (wouldnt say which) as the club didn't have the decency to speak to him about a new deal even though he wanted to stay, nothing was offered.

There was always going to be a lot of changes after the season we've just had, some who I would want to stay will go, that's up to the coach, but i would have expected the club to act professionally in the matter, without actually knowing it's difficult to comment. Whoever is going i wish them all the best.

Do you get your kicks constantly moaning and whining? jesus wept you could make a onion cry mate, if your not convinced about club doncaster, carl, gt or how the turnstiles go anti-clockwise then simply don't attend and stop posting. Nobody has enjoyed this season and absolutely no positives can be taken from it but were moving into a new era with young exciting players coming in to express themselves, a new coach with the chance to have a full pre-season and implement new fitness regimes and love them or hate them club doncaster saying they will fund the club competitively for the foreseeable future. Good things are happening behind the scenes and now the focus is on putting an exciting and passionate side out which i firmly believe will happen but it seems some people on here are at their happiest when things are not going well which for me is pretty sad

People with a knowledge and understanding of history can look at present developing situations and compare what is happening now to the past. This often gives a good insight to a likely future. So SteveRoebuck’s recent post is very informative and is well grounded.

The young lads who have been signed are fresh out of Superleague academies. Some of them may be stars of the future. The only problem is that we do not know which ones. The videos that we see are of one team of U19s players playing other team of U19s players. Now, most of them will be turning U20. No one knows what they will be like under pressure from experienced players in either League 1 or in Championship. They will be playing against men who are battle hardened. Some promising young players’ ability seems to evaporate under pressure whilst others rise to the challenge. Some young players may not be ready for this challenge for another few years. Also, what of their attitude? Will they be good team players? Who knows?

So Stand-Offish is right when he talks about signing potential. Chewspaker, Moomlight, SteveRoebuck, Wanderer, etc also make this point and they talk of balances between youth and experience. These guys have experiences from their own personal history and they have good words wisdom to offer. The management of Donny would do well to listen.

Most Championship clubs will take on youngsters to develop them during training and try them out against weaker clubs. Surely no Championship club in its right mind will allow its future to be determined by the exploits of inexperienced youth. After all, no Championship club wants to be relegated to League 1.

League 1 is a bit different. This gives talented younger inexperienced players a good chance to develop and provide them with a route into Championship and beyond. Good experienced players also play here by personal choice.

Now that we are relegated to League 1, C Hall talks about bouncing back into Championship. In reality there are constraining financial budget issues. So G Thornton is a bit more cautious. He says, “[iit will not be a given that we will be straight back up but we will be challenging[/i”. He knows the realities of League 1. After all, he was the Championship coach at York City Knights when they were relegated to League 1.

From the existing squad so far, we have signed only three fully experienced players – K Kesik, L Welham and T Carr. Of these three, an earlier post seemed to question if L Welham has signed. If he has, then this is odd as it is not yet posted on Donny’s site. A new experienced player who has signed is M Castle. However, it is suggested by G Thornton that P Cooke gave M Castle the push. No reason is given for this.

Two of the signings from last year’s intake have re-signed. So I guess that P Cooke was right about these two.

So far, five new youngsters have been signed. How will they do? We do not know. Time will tell.

It seems that few of our existing squad will be with us next season. Some of the earlier posts here suggest that they are off to pastures new. This is a pity. I believe that they are a very good squad of players who were somehow or other let down by management. After all, when G Thornton took over earlier this year he said, “[iGood players cannot become bad players overnight[/i”.

Very good post Tee Man .
I along with the aforementioned only want what's best for the club and its fans.
I am not a Johnny come lately, though good times and bad I have followed the club spending God knows how many thousands over the years, and I strongly believe that Club Doncaster is the way forward.
For people to say that some fans are only happy when the team is struggling is obserd ,they give THEIR opinion because they care. Weather you agree with it or not.
These are the same people who have followed the team for years, but who are slowly turning their backs on DRLFC for a variety of reasons.
It shows a total lack of respect to the fans who spend their hard earned money traveling up and down the country ,supporting the team when players are posting photos and videos on social media laughing and joking on the way home from a drubbing like the one at Workington,
I know they try their best and it hurts to lose , but it hurts the fans just as much if not more ,as we have paid for the privilege.
This has been done on at least three occasions this year to my knowledge(shown to me by work mate as I am not on Twitter) and looks like a case of "well another loss lets make up for it with a few beers on the bus home".
I know we are not in the same league but can you imagine the uproar if the Hull KR players had posted pictures of themselves, three sheets to the wind laughing and singing when they got hammered at Wembley.
I sincerely hope GT and PG are given a fair crack of the whip , with a full preseason and no interference for above, to deliver a competitive side and one to make me want to watch next year.
COYD

Good post Tee Man.

Nobody who posts on here wants their team to do badly. They post because they care, I presume.
A variety of views is what is needed and we have got that.
So I don't believe personal attacks are appropriate.
We need more posters, not less.

The forum has been devoid of its more optimistic members simply because of the terrible circumstances and realists/pessimists like myself have held sway.
There will be a better balance of posters hopefully next season.

But, the more the merrier I say!

Some players have signed for championship clubs already mostly because they want to play at the highest standard they can which I accept, I believe the management of the club may not wish to sign on some existing squad members, I base this opinion on the fact they have already agreed terms with some of the current squad, they may be waiting to see who else is available and risk losing some players who they don't consider automatic first choice going forward.

I really like the most of the squad who have turned out for us over the last few seasons and have helped provide some great days out, however if we are to progress as a club and have further success we need to move on and try and not be sentimental.

There are a couple of this seasons squad who will be offered far better contracts elsewhere and deserve to play at a higher level, and I wish every player who moves on to have a successful career.

Some very insightful and well observed scribing gone on here. I would like to say a big thank you to Tee Man for posting what I was wanting to say but Carcroft Infant and Middle in the early sixties was not perhaps the best place to study the written word, so sadly I'm not the best at it. The clue will be in the pre season friendlies, just like this year, but sadly some of us where very guily of it will be alright syndrome.

I have found myself going from ever the optimist and defender of the Club, to downright scepticism in the course of a few months. We all want the best for the club, well the fans do at least and the ones who have been around the block a few times have been amazed at this seasons rapid fall from grace and for some, the untold reasons why it happened.

I can only sum up this strange year by looking how I and Tatty Field and Leafys bookmaker have swopped places with the glass half full/empty postings. Light hearted lads before you come in and put me in my place.

It is time to put this e to bed for this season and to hope that next year brings back some of the pride we used to feel by supporting Doncaster Rugby league club. I would to especially thank Baz Brown for everything he does for the club and the fans. A true gent and loyalty in plenty.

We've certainly all been suffering together on here this year. Even if we have differences of opinions (and I like to hear diverse views) I always consider that we have the same thing at heart. We want the Dons to do well.

The lift in our mood after the Dewsbury win was plain to see. Let's hope this is the start of better things to come and a change round in our fortunes.

We need as many people posting on here as possible. I hope those who have stopped coming on here will rejoin us.

Many thanks Alan for your kind words

We've all been looking for a few more answers as to why the 2015 season has been so bad. The club haven't really wanted to tell us the details - preferring to look forward rather than look back.

In the Free Press article on Thursday 17th September, Carl revealed something that hadn't previously been disclosed:

“As was the case with Paul Cooke and Tony Miller before him, recruitment is all in the hands of head coach Gary Thornton."

This suggests PC had total control over the squad for 2015 and was happy with the side he'd put together. Was it PC's judgement that was wrong, as opposed to the club not making funds available?

Why don't they just explain that then if that's the case.
Not a difficult statement to make?

Double Movement raised an interesting issue on signing authority.

Although C Hall stated, [i“As was the case with Paul Cooke and Tony Miller before him, recruitment is all in the hands of head coach Gary Thornton”[/i. He also went on to say, [i“Gary, …, has full say on who he wants to bring to the club and my only role is to make it happen if I can and to decide whether the players fit into my budget”[/i. So it is being made clear that whilst Gary has a big say in what he wants, he has to work within the financial budget constraints. So, because of the money, C Hall has the final say. It is a bit like wanting a sirloin steak, but you can afford only a couple of sausages.

Looking at this article, the RFL have cut the money to Donny by £125,000. The owners are putting some money in, and C Hall is fundraising.

However, the point that Double Movement raises is an interesting one, for mid-season on the 17th July 2014, we were introduced to a new 20 year old ex rugby union Leicester Tigers player. The club write up sounded very good. The reality was different. P Dunn’s tackling was good, but his positional sense and lack of game awareness was there for all to see. Who selected P Dunn? Given his clear lack of knowledge of Rugby League, why was not given more training before being allowed to play at Championship level?

Just because he played Union, it is no guarantee that he could play League. It is a bit like expecting someone to play badminton just because they can play tennis - or expecting someone to play chess because they can play draughts.

Coming back now to P Cooke, like G Thornton, I cannot see him having total control. At the 2015 squad selection time, many fans seemed to be puzzled over the total lack of experienced new players. We do not know the budget constraints that were placed on P Cooke. Also, we may have expected an availability of good Hull FC players to fill any breach. These may be two of the management errors – too many inexperienced youth and a miscalculation on the availability of good dual reg players.

Looking back to the start of 2015, Stand-Offish said, [i“With all these youngsters we must have the most unpredictable team in the division. Forrest Gump mode ... The Dons are like a box of chocolates ... you never know what you're gonna get.”[/i

Also, Onedon wrote, [i“Hope we have enough experience to avoid the struggle of relegation.”[/i He also stated, [i“Looks like we will be relying heavily on D/R.”
[/i

Love it to bits that post. You would have to be completly wet behind the ears not to grasp the thought process behind it. The question once again is about trust, and for me it just enforces my lack of faith in the financial side of running the Dons hence the reluctance to go for a couple of season tickets or anything to do with the alleged squad builder fund.

The financial side of things will probably always mean that the club have the final say on who we can sign but I think the statement made by Carl lowers the possibility that there was some cunning master plan to tread water in 2015 with the club insisting that we went for youth.

We're never going to know how much the club's budget was, or which players they refused to sign (that PC wanted) because they were deemed to be too expensive, or be able to compare our budget to those of our rivals. All we have been told is that the 2015 budget was the biggest ever in the club's history ... which would make them very expensive sausages!

I felt the implications of what Carl said could (and should) have been made public before now. Even though it's not the definitive answer as to why this season went wrong, it does help us to understand the situation a little better. More clarity would also be helpful but I doubt it will be forthcoming.

My guess is that we were also relying heavily on Hull to plug any gaps we had, and that didn't happen. All the top clubs in the Championship kept away from DR. It creates a huge instability in knowing who is going to be available from week to week. I hope one of the lessons we have learned from this season is that we now recognise that we must take responsibility for ourselves. We cannot rely on Hull, or anyone else, to bail us out if times get tough.

We probably all feel a sense of relief that this season is drawing to a close. Let's hope we hear some more positive news of signings soon. I would expect more names to be revealed next week as many players will have played their last game for their current clubs this weekend.