Keep having a paddle in the sea Dave!

Yes Geoff we did have some great local players as you mentioned ,but look how many clubs we had back then around the villages,Bentley,Askern,Rossington,Armthorpe,ICI,Moorends,Goldthorpe,Skellow and many be a few more,now we have two, Bentley and Toll Bar ,if we are to progress you need players to perform at a higher level,the step up from amateur is hard as the game is much faster,even at the lower levels.Bentley and Toll Bar should join forces and try to play in the conference instead of struggleing on season to season playing in Yorkshire one and two ,then maybe we can get back to the days of having a team made up of local boys.Toll Bar have some great facilities and good youth development,while Bentley have players with more experience of playing semi pro , but this will never happen as both clubs want to keep their identity. Surely it would benefit both the clubs and the Dons,and this could give local players something to aspire too,using this as a Dons feeder club.

We don't like mergers on here chunkster (it's a touchy subject).
You just said that we had a better pool to pick from when we had more local clubs like Askern, Rosso etc ....so why would we want to make it fewer.
Besides .....are we just giving the Marauders youngsters up to Hull etc..what about them?

There are still clubs at Moorends and Goldthorpe, although Moorends now focus on summer rugby only, and Goldthorpe [now Dearne Valley] are in the Pennine League.

I said that as my opinon,as i feel we need players to play at a higher level than the lower reaches of the yorkshire league.Howard Roberts and Brian have a good group of young lads at Moorends,as i have coached most of them on the scholarship for the last two seasons,(until its demize),but with the senior team folding it would be hard for them to progress into a team with no old heads to guide and protect them.The Dons need to have better links with the local clubs and help them produce players that want to play at a higher level,not just to turn out on a saturday and play social rugby.We lost three really good young lads to Hull KR off the scholarship last year and it breaks my heart to see players leave the club after we have put time and effort into improving them as players only for them to be cherrypicked away from us.We need to start the scholarship program again ,there are plenty of the previous coaching staff that would get back involved,and it would cost next to nothing.

Totally agree with the above,but---
If the above is true and it would cost next to nothing---why was the scholarship abandoned in the first place?

A Good Scholarship should be the nucleus of our club and for our future.

No idea,it was all self funded under Dave Marsall separate from the main club

You've previously stated that it breaks your heart to see lads leave the club after all the time and effort
you've put into improving them as players,----------and i applaud you for that.

But surely when the scholarship was abandoned you must of questioned the logic of it.

Surely you were given a reason-----and if the reason is not money related,the scholarship should be re-instated as soon as possible..

Had a long talk with Carl about this last night before the game and i am please to tell you that the scholarship will be reinstated only on a smaller scale than before. It will be run as an elite training squad that will have access to the first team with more intense stills development,and body conditioning hopefuly this will produce players from Doncaster that want to stay here and progress to the first team .

Great News.

Great sounds like some forward planning at last, this kind of information needs to be out in the open so that the many disillusioned fans can see that there are some long term plans.

Think it will be in Carls program notes on Sunday

5 of the under 16 scholarship last season have been playing for myton warriors u17 in the yorkshire premier league and only lost 1 game this season, they really have come on this season 2 have already signed pro forms at hull k r and think another 2 will follow as both hull clubs watching them. i wish things at doncaster had turned out different as the lads enjoyed their time down at the club. we all still read the doncaster boards and watch out for their results and one day they might get the chance to return to doncaster . the way forward is getting the better young players at your club as they are the future of the club hope the club gets stronger and with carl hall in charge , i think its in good hands

Dont forget Dodworth and Hoyland Pennine League

Barnsley in the Rugby League Conference as well, alongside Rotherham, who are mainly Hoyland Vikings with a few union players thrown in.