Doncaster RLFC: Carl Hall hopes continuity will be key as the Dons aim high

Richard Horne’s side lost in the promotion play-offs to Workington Town last season after finishing third in the regular season.

The Dons kick off their league campaign at Newcastle Thunder today aiming for promotion back to the Championship at the fourth time of asking.

“We don’t want to go through the play-offs again if we can help it,” said Hall. “It’s a toss of a coin job.

“There’s no reason why we can’t win it. I’m not being arrogant or big-headed, or disrespecting anyone.

“There’s about four or five other clubs who will think the same.

“We weren’t a million miles off last season so we didn’t think we had to go too much different to what we’ve got,” he added.

“But Newcastle are having a go, Hunslet have strengthened massively, Workington and Whitehaven will always be tough, Oldham as well. There’s some tough old slogs there.

“Richard Horne knows the league now. He knows the players now. He’s knows the opposition players.

“We’ll give it our best shot.”

Hall hopes continuity will stand Doncaster in good stead this season.

“The big job we've done over the winter is retaining all those boys who got us the tens win a row and broke a few clubs records last year,” he said.

“We didn't think we were far off.

“People go on about us not signing anyone. We have. We've signed 17 really good players who were already here.

“The coach is happy with the squad he's got. It's not always about turning over the staff and the roster.

“We really wanted to keep what we had. They're a great group.

“I said last year the last time I felt this vibe around the club was in 2012 when we won the league.”