Sunday's Coming
Sunday sees Hornets over at sunny Doncaster - who seem to have picked up a bit of a reputation for uncompromising play this season. Always a tough, physical proposition, the Dragons have attracted the attention of both the media and the top brass at Red Hall as they've crashed their way to four wins - taking the scalps of Leigh and Whitehaven on the way.
It was Craig Miles' now infamous late, high shot on Dean Lawford that first set the alarm bells ringing. As Lawford recovers from facial reconstruction surgery, Miles will sit out of the rest of the season - and even as Sunday rolls round, we find two Doncaster players sitting out RFL disciplinary suspensions for sendings off against Featherstone - PJ Solomon banned for one game for a deliberate high tackle and Matt Walker banned for two games for repeated punching.
Whether officials are over-sensitive to Doncaster's 'robust enthusiasm' or there really is some fire behind the smoke, we'll see on Sunday.
Last weekend saw the Dragons run out of steam in a tight game with Dull KR. Leading at half time and trailing by just 4 points into the last 8 minutes, they shipped three tries to go down 28-50.
Leading the line were second rower Craig Lawton who grabbed two tries and old warhorse Andy Fisher who nabbed one for himself. Orchestrating matters is faded chubster Graham Holroyd.
Also on the scoresheet was ex-Hornet Marlon Billy - so plenty of kicks into his corner then, eh, Bobbie - nudge, nudge.
With spirits lifted by the win at Keighley, the trip to Donny will provide a stern test of how far we've really got to go to prove our credentials in NL1. Trips to the former 'House of Pain' are never easy and require application and total commitment for the full 80 minutes.
Undoubtedly, if we show the same sort of form that blitzed Keighley in the opening quarter and back that up with a big effort on defence, we can give a good account of ourselves.
Doncaster coach St John Ellis said last week - "Our aim was to finish the campaign with a 100% home record...". Having lost last week in the Late Trains Cup, it'll still be their target for the league - so we could really spoil the party.
The trip to Doncaster is always a belter, so come and join us. We'll be stood together on the main stand side and the more of us there are, the more noise we'll make. We had a great afternoon at Keighley - and the stayaways are now all wishing they'd been there. Don't miss this week's game. The lads need you. We need you. Your club needs you. It'll be a cracker. See you there.