Doncaster RLFC: It's time for my players to step up to the plate - Horne

Were they to win just two of their remaining games – and they have to visit leaders Toronto and fourth-placed York - Keighley could pip them on points difference if they won their last three.

Dons boss Richard Horne is calling on his squad to step up to the plate during the run-in and says the door isn’t necessarily closed on those players currently not in the squad.

“They’ve got to show up in training and when they get their opportunity they’ve got to make sure that they take it,” he told The Star.

“If the players in the team (in their position) are doing a job then it’s a case for those players not in the squad to wait for their opportunity to come in and, as I say, take it.

“Louis Sheriff is a prime example of what I’m looking for. I left Ryan Jones out of the side to play Whitehaven because I felt he’d made a few errors and Louis came in and put in a solid performance and kept his place for the game at Workington on Sunday.

“I can’t always guarantee if someone comes in and does well then they’ll keep their place because you’ve got to take into account previous form of the player they have replaced, especially if the player who had been playing well regularly had been out injured but was now fit again because they have probably earned their right to come straight back in.

“That’s obviously disappointing for someone who had come in and played okay and then they get dropped the following week but that is how things are.”