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The players are staying
DONCASTER Rugby League Club head coach Tony Miller is hoping to hang on to his remaining players after losing seven first-team stars in recent weeks.
"I am not going to blame the players for leaving because there has been a lot of uncertainty about the club's future," said Miller.
"But the club is now debt free after going into administration late last week and the administrator assured the players when he spoke to them that there is enough money to pay them until the end of the season.
"The hope is that someone will now take the club on so that we can start to move forward again.
"Hopefully there will be no more players leaving between now and the end of the season. Utility back Shaun Leaf has rejected a better financial package from a Division One side to stop on and that shows his commitment to the club."
Miller and director of rugby Carl Hall have been working hard behind the scenes in a bid to bolster the squad.
Said Miller:"We've spoken to a couple of Super League clubs about players and we've also spoken to some amateur and rugby union players, so we've got a few irons in the fire.
"It has been hard work trying to sell the club to players because there has been a lot of negativity, but we are hoping to bring in four or five players.
"We'll definitely have a team for the rearranged game against Batley on Sunday week because we could make up the numbers with players from the Under-21s.
"But we don't want to flood the team with youngsters - we want to bring in some more experienced players.
"We didn't have a game last weekend and we haven't got one this Sunday, and that has given us time to get ourselves organised - though we won't have much time to integrate any new players into the squad before the Batley game."
Although the Dons will be 12 points adrift at the foot of the table with just 10 games remaining after they have nine points deducted for going into administration, Miller is not yet ready to concede defeat in the Championship relegation battle.
"Obviously it is going to be very difficult to stay up having lost so many players and with the points deduction," he said.
"But I don't want us to go through the motions in the second half of the season. I want us to be a competitive as possible.
"Some of the players we are hoping to bring in aren't just stop-gap measures and they have the chance to win themselves a deal for next season when, hopefully, we'll be in a better financial position than we have been for most of this."
With the Keepmoat Stadium currently unavailable due to renovation work on the pitch, and the club having drawn a blank in their efforts to find an alternative in the town, the Batley game will be played at Featherstone.
The Dons suffered their biggest defeat of the season (68-12) on their visit to the Chris Moyles Stadium last month, but Miller says that will not play on the players' minds.
"To be fair, we played well for over 30 minutes, but our heads went down in the second," said Miller.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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