Wing man Briscoe reveals top six aim for improving Dons
Former Super League winger Luke Briscoe has proved a regular try-scorer since joining Doncaster RLFC at the start of the 2024 Betfred Championship campaign.
But whereas his fellow winger Bureta Faraimo scored four tries in the club’s 38-0 win over Batley Bulldogs at the Fox’s Biscuits Stadium last September, Briscoe didn’t manage to touch down in either of last season’s big wins over the West Yorkshire side - something he is hoping to put right in Sunday’s encounter.
Briscoe, who set a new club record of scoring in successive games for Featherstone Rovers prior to linking up with the Dons, did touch down against joint-leaders Bradford Bulls the Eco-Power Stadium last time out but it proved in vain.
“It was a tough one to take because it was so close,” he said. “We want to finish in the top six and make the play-offs this season after just missing out last year so every point is vital.
“We’ve beaten (joint-leaders) Toulouse at home and Halifax, who were top when we beat them at The Shay, and we were within five minutes or so of beating Bradford so we know we are not far away.
“We went through a bit of a spell when we were inconsistent but we’ve been building in the last month or so and the win at Halifax proved something of a turning point. Had we beaten Bradford we’d be going into Sunday’s game on the back of three successive wins.
“Even though we lost against Bradford we still played well and we’ll be going there in a confident frame of mind looking to build on recent performances.
“It is the first of five successive away games which will be a testing period. But if we can pick up a few wins then that will put us in good stead to finish the season strongly because we have a glut of home games in the last few weeks of the season and, as Bradford and others have found out, we are becoming a hard side to beat at home.”
Briscoe says he is pleased with the contribution the back division have made to the team so far this season both in attack and defence.
“We’ve had a fairly settled back division this season and by playing together and getting to know each other’s game better we are getting that fluency you look for,” he said.
“It’s nice to score tries but these days wingers also have to do the tough stuff when bringing the ball out of yardage and a lot of people watching don’t always notice the work that all the outside backs put in bringing the ball out of defence.”