​Dons winger fired up for visit of former club Featherstone

Briscoe has enjoyed several spells at the Post Office Road club over the years during which time he set a new club record when scoring in 17 consecutive games.

He also played for the club in their AB Sundecks 1895 Cup final defeat by Leigh at Wembley in 2022.

“It’s another big game but we are building week by week and I’m looking forward to it,” he told the Free Press.

“We knew what we were up against going into the game with Wakefield being a full-time side, but we’ve looked at the video in training this week and hopefully we’ll fix things that we need to fix up on Sunday.

“Having lost at home to Bradford at the weekend, they’ll be coming here on the back of a defeat and like us they’ll be wanting to get back to winning ways so it should be a good battle.”

Having splashed the cash in a bid to make Super League for the first time, Rovers finished well clear at the top of the Championship table last season only to suffer a surprise defeat at home to London in the play-offs.

The club’s failure to secure top flight status ahead of the new IMG-inspired grading system, led to a mass exodus of players, including Briscoe, at the end of last season in a bid to cut the wage bill.

“What happened at the end of the season was disappointing for everyone connected with the club and I think that there are only about four players still there from that team,” said Briscoe.

Looking ahead to Sunday’s game, Briscoe said: “We go into every game thinking that we can win and I feel it’s definitely a game we can win.”

His sentiments are shared by head coach Richard Horne, due to check on ex-Featherstone full-back/centre Craig Hall who has missed the last two games, at last night’s training session.

Several other players have also worn the famous navy blue and white Rovers’ shirt over the years and Horne says they will be keen to impress if selected.

“I’m sure they’ll be up for it in front of what should be another good crowd and atmosphere,” he said. “It was a tough one for our fans against Wakefield because there wasn’t a lot to spur them on but they did make their presence felt.

“We’ve had one of the toughest starts of anyone and Sunday’s game will be our fourth game against sides which finished in the play-offs last season.

“If we can beat Featherstone that would be two from four which is a lot better than many people were predicting.”