I've got my season ticket bought, all the tickets for the friendlies and am thoroughly sold on the forthcoming season .... but!
When I read the RLE it just fills me with foreboding.
Featured team this week is Dewsbury ...Obscuresville Arizona!
Except to say that they look to have recruited a really good side ...better than ours on paper.
So where does that leave us if they are a middling side?
I think that the point I am trying to make is that every position in the side has to be filled with a player of some repute and class and specialised in that position.
I don't think we have achieved that.
I think Dewsbury have.

I agree other teams appear to have recruited well on paper, however we have in the past recruited well on paper only to disappoint on grass (or mud in Cumbria), some of our most successful seasons in recent years have been when we recruited young raw and hungry talent such as Luke Gale and Kyle Briggs, therefore I am optimistic we can repeat this under the expert guidance of Paul Cooke and other senior coaching and playing staff. I am excited by the forthcoming season and confident of relative success.

I share some of Stand Offish's concerns and share some of rugblyman's enthusiasm.

The key for me is that some of the raw talent amongst the youngsters is going to have to hit the ground running. If they don't we're going to be relying on getting established players (or players with the required raw talent) from Hull to fill the gaps.

I've no doubt that if anyone can get the best out of the youngsters it will be Paul Cooke, the coaching team, and the senior players.

I can't wait for the first game!

Because Spav has left, we are looking for a hooker .....
Because Carr is out and Scotty reverts to FB, we are looking for a winger ....
That is two thirteens of a side, nearly a sixth of a side making do.
Hardly a good start, we are looking at bottom third in the table.

The good thing is, watching them develop and get better ... and that's the season for me ... the Dons slowly coming good!

Look at the fixture list, it's hard to see where our first win comes from .,...

I don't think that Cookey is anywhere near the fitness he should be at and he is our star player.
34 nearly and a stone overweight!

I am at the pessimistic end of the spectrum though.

Carl has announced in his In The Dugout article on 24th December that two more of last season's squad have resigned. Their names haven't been released yet.

He also announced that there is one more brand NEW signing to be revealed.

I wonder if Ryan Wilson is one of the resignings. Who might the other one be?

I wonder if the new signing will be a prop, hooker, half-back or winger?

Well Ryan Wilson is listed on last seasons squad list on the website as a Prop.
So they may well be thinking of using him more this season and he is still only young.

I personally hope he is one of the re-signings as i thought he looked to have potential when he did play.

Agree 100% - he was just about our only forward who had an offload game. Looking at the squad list though I can't imagine who the other resigned player is unless Spav's job didn't work out already.

Hodson ?

It'd certainly be good news if Tom Hodson was back.

Last few post should probably be moved into the squad discussion thread by the admin tbh. However I was thinking I don't think we have officially announced Danny Nicklas yet have we? I know it was confirmed at the fans forum but without an official announcement via the club website could he be the second resigning along with Wilson? I Believe Tom went to union.

Merry Christmas to each and all.
This forum is going the way of the Dodo, which surprises me in the era of the smartphone when folk can post from anywhere.
It's not just crowd numbers at games we have to worry about.
A shame, I would say ......
Here's to 2015, raise a glass!

Merry Christmas S/O and all other forum readers!

I'm sure it'll get a bit busier on here as the first games approach.

As far as the forum goes it probably doesn't help that we know we are signing unknowns as it were - it makes it impossible for us to speculate. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing as some of our most high profile signings in recent years have been some of our worst ie Basil Richards, Chris McKenna and Paul McNicholas to name a few.

Sir Basil Richards ... when touched on the shoulder he went down on one knee .....lol

and if memory serves it was a rare treat when he retained possession.