Re: v Oxford Sunday 22/5/16 home : Mon May 23, 2016 10:10 pm  

Harworthdon wrote:

hello,, is there ANYBODY out there,!!!!

Things are quiet on here.

I've not got much to add that's not already been said really.

I was looking at the remaining fixtures in the league and I reckon 20 points might be good enough to finish 4th.

That means we need to win 3 out of 5. If we lose at Toulouse and Rochdale, we'd need to beat Skolars away, and beat South Wales and Hemel.

My best guess at the how the table might look after all 14 games have been played is:

Toulouse 27 pts,
Rochdale 25 pts,
York 23 pts,
Dons 20 pts,
Keighley18 pts,
London 18 pts,
Barrow 17 pts

That would get us four homes games in the last 7 rounds of games. If York and Rochdale do slip up, it'd mean we'd have a better chance of getting in the top three at the end of the season, but the teams below us might overtake us if they take points off them before 14 rounds have been completed, not allowing us to have four home games in the next phase of matches.

My main concern is our defence. If we're going to have a chance of going up, we do need to improve considerably in that department.

Re: v Oxford Sunday 22/5/16 home : Tue May 24, 2016 5:32 am  

Seems a fair assessment of the final positions. Any idea how the last 7 games are sorted ? Is it simply by a draw or do the league postions change who plays who at home ?

Re: v Oxford Sunday 22/5/16 home : Tue May 24, 2016 7:41 am  

No idea, but would be unfair if a team had to travel to France twice.

Kelly out for 4 weeks. Short of back row forwards with Tonks , P-O D, & Milton also out .

Oxfords 1st try sums up some of our defending with Doherty rushing out of the line leaving a big gap. Most of the time our goal line defence is pretty good .


COYD

Re: v Oxford Sunday 22/5/16 home : Tue May 24, 2016 7:48 am  

Yep, agreed. It would be interesting to see Hornets playing in France, could be a bit tasty.
The All Golds in France this weekend. I'm desperately trying to find a garage with some diesel so I can get down to the game - the refinery blocks are beginning to bite....

Re: v Oxford Sunday 22/5/16 home : Tue May 24, 2016 8:55 am  

sanjunien wrote:

Seems a fair assessment of the final positions. Any idea how the last 7 games are sorted ? Is it simply by a draw or do the league postions change who plays who at home ?

The only details I could find on the RFL website are as follows:

FIXTURES
B3:8(a)

The Board shall be responsible for compiling a fixture list for all phases of all competitions including Super League.

The copyright in all fixtures lists produced by the RFL shall be owned by the RFL. Clubs shall ensure that all draft fixture lists
are kept confidential and not disclosed to any other person and shall only disclose final fixture lists once authorised by the RFL

I'd suspect that Team One might play at home to Teams 2, 4, 6, and 8 and away to 3, 5, and 7. The rest is anyone's guess! With the constraints of having to make sure the top four get four home games, I doubt there's any room for manouvre with regards to making sure you don't play the same teams away twice in the season.

The big issue I have is that the season is ultimately all about finishing in the top five and having all your players fit for the knockout games at the end of the season. Okay, finishing 1st or 2nd gives you two chances, and finishing 3rd will give you a home semi-final tie, but you only have to look at the football play-offs to see how the teams who finish highest don't necessarily get promoted.

We need to make sure we're at our peak at the end of the season. As long as our injured players are match fit by then, having them out now isn't too much of a worry, as long as we are still good enough to make the top four.

Re: v Oxford Sunday 22/5/16 home : Tue May 24, 2016 7:25 pm  

hello peeps, well at least l have aroused one or two on here to respond and make a few comments, to emphasise what l put in my previous message is the lack of interest on here connected to the "sometimes" lack lustre performances on the field. Is it more to do with the whole structure of our league this season, ie not playing all the teams home/away, the stupid play off system nobody knows about, the introduction of another team that may as well be on another planet. No matter how much I try I cant get excited about this season,,,or is it just me. here,s hoping for better things to come. COYDs

Re: v Oxford Sunday 22/5/16 home : Tue May 24, 2016 7:29 pm  

We have to get out of here.

Re: v Oxford Sunday 22/5/16 home : Tue May 24, 2016 10:26 pm  

I love my rugby. I'm not particularly bothered about the level at which it's played. I never miss a Super League game on Sky and I'll watch all the Summer Bash Championship matches with great interest. I find all games fascinating for various reasons and never tire of watching rugby.

However, watching the Dons this season feels different. I can only think the structure of the league is causing me to feel this way, along with the promotion structure. It's as though nothing much really matters until we get to the play offs.

Every game should matter, every game should be important, but I suspect we'll finish outside the top two and have one crack at going up through the play-offs. We'll end up playing York or Rochdale, possibly away, and our season will hinge on this.

I can understand why the league structure is the way it is. There are too many teams in the league for everyone to play each other home and away, and the newer clubs need to gain some experience by playing the more established clubs in order to develop and progress themselves. But it creates a lop-sided competition that people don't seem to have warmed to. And none of us know how the fixtures will be decided once the league splits, apart from knowing the top four teams will get four home games. Maybe it'll get more exciting once the league splits? I don't know.

Perhaps we're all still suffering some sort of hangover from last season? Perhaps we were hoping that we'd have a team that would breeze through this league in impressive fashion and have a fighting chance of doing well in the Championship after being promoted. We're a long way short of that at the moment and maybe deep down we're fearing another season in this league?

All-in-all, I think there are a number of reasons why we feel the way we feel. It's hard to pin it down to one single thing. I really hope the side improve over the remaining games and do enough to get us out of this division. Everything is still to be played for and GT will be very much aware of this having failed to gain promotion at York when his side finished top.

For the well-being of fans, players, and everyone connected with the club, we need to get out of this division as soon as possible!

Re: v Oxford Sunday 22/5/16 home : Wed May 25, 2016 8:53 am  

Double Movement wrote:

Things are quiet on here.

For reasons that I won't disclose, I don't post on here a great deal any more.

I still have a lot to do with the Dons on social media, but I've got a load of work at the moment that takes precedence, some of which became obvious at the match this weekend (and I'm sure the club will mention it in due course).

Re: v Oxford Sunday 22/5/16 home : Wed May 25, 2016 4:35 pm  

We haven't got a match this week end Donny . Will you get round to the stats at a later date .
COYD