creditwhereitsdews

First test Spurs, second at Headingley – whether we win or lose the first, getting those Kangaroos intimidated by a packed house close to the pitch could just see us home (and it gives us a chance to stick up an enticing "SOLD OUT" banner up during ticket sales) – third at Old Trafford.

London is also the place where the movers and shakers are. I was down there a few weeks ago to play 5-a-side football and got talking to a couple of young guys from the opposing team in the pub after. Turned out they were live bloggers for a sports website in the city and when they asked which football team I supported, I sheepishly (but proudly) said I was actually an RL fan. Fully expecting an awkward silence before I fetched my coat, I was shocked when they said "oh we love rugby league" and went on to talk about that morning's NRL matches and their visits to Broncos matches this season and how good Hakim Miloudi was. A couple of days later I went to the London v Leeds Rhinos match on a sunny afternoon and sat among a healthy and widely diverse crowd watching a thrilling game of RL, with the home team made up largely of players from areas where the sport is in its infancy. Lots of kids and families, all sorts of ethnic backgrounds, everyone cheering the action on the field rather than hurling abuse at the ref. This, I thought, is what rugby league in 2024 should be about. I just cannot see how the sport can give up on this. I love heartlands RL but I just can't see how the M62 clubs can so easily just cut the Broncos adrift without any parachute payment, or some sort of help and at the same time pillage their players and squander six-figure sums on rejects from the NRL, just for short-term gain. If we're ever going to have any sort of a national profile then the Broncos are the key to it.

Just bought a membership though I doubt I'll be able to get to more than two or three games as I'll be too busy watching my first team. Fond memories of watching the Broncos when I was living in London and even remember watching them as Fulham so thought it was time to give something back. Hope they can make a go of it and that people get behind them. RL will be in a very sorry state without them.

Heard rumours Sam Day is coming back.

It would be good to think that we can at least be an outlet for people in Dewsbury who aspire to play professional rugby league. For me, the minimum standard for all professional rugby league clubs should be to have a first team, reserve and academy set up along with a women's team. Yet with all the millions thrown at RL over the last few decades, these pathways seem to have been abandoned for short-term fixes. I think what the club is planning to do next season is along the right lines. We may have to lower our expectations but to me that's a fair price to pay for having a viable club.

Jamie Field impressed in pre season, I was surprised he didn't get a chance earlier this year.

Yes, we defended superbly and showed an unusual patience and control with the ball that we have not really seen this year.

Was very happy to see my team win after a very tough season to say the least. Sheffield should have wiped the floor with us today given the players they had out, especially given that we were under strength and only named 3 subs. The body language of the Eagles players suggested something may be afoot – one or two of them were even laughing and joking when the hooter went. They only missed out on the playoffs by 22 points difference too. If that was my season down the swanny all because I'd lost to Dewsbury I wouldn't be smiling.

I really thought the one thing Paul March would bring to our team would be discipline. It just seems to be getting worse. We're a disjointed rabble.

Cheers to both Crown Flatts, new and old. My first game at the old one was Easter Monday 1988 v Keighley, my only one before the stand burned down (though some floodlights had already blown over). My next was Boxing Day 1988 against Batley when the temporary stand went up and I remember the players throwing sweets into the crowd after they ran out. Clung on to those white iron railings for another couple of years before moving to Mount Pleasant and I enjoyed the time there, mainly because we had an exciting team. Every match I'd buy a programme to look at the artist's impression on the back of what the new ground would look like – though it's only got to look like that image in the last few years since we put up the terracing behind the goals. I'm still grateful we've got our own ground and it's a proper rugby league ground, unlike those of the likes of Wigan, Halifax, Hull etc who lost theirs to share with soccer clubs. Here's to another 30 years, and hopefully a lot more.

If you look at some of the players we had under Andy Kelly – Francis Maloney, Darren Rogers, Ryan Sheridan, Warren Jowitt, etc – we under-achieved quite a bit.

Looking at the state of Whitehaven and Halifax, I think we have a lot to be positive about and it was good to walk out of The Shay yesterday knowing that we are going to be around next season. I love watching Dewsbury and even though I knew we were on a hiding yesterday, I enjoyed going along and I appreciated the efforts of the players. There's an End of Days feeling about rugby league at the moment, which I hope will be turned around soon, but it's made me realise how much I'd miss our club if it wasn't there. Demoralising as watching Dewsbury often feels, I'd miss them if they were gone.

Thought our line defence had improved yesterday with many of their tries coming out wide, as opposed to some of the soft pushover tries under the posts that we have been conceding. Calum Turner had a poor game at full-back but made up for it somewhat with a tenacious try. We were just having to defend too much due to losing possession carelessly, often in good positions and we offer pretty much no attacking threat. Thought Tomlinson had a solid game on the wing. Halifax looked nowhere near a side that can challenge for the playoffs, despite some big names who are likely on big money. Left The Shay feeling glad I'm a Dewsbury fan and not a Fax one. Roll on the off-season.

Been disappointed that there has been very little discernible on-field improvement since he took over this season, especially in terms of gameplan, fitness and attitude. I thought we would have won four or five games at least. Though as has been said, it's a team he's inherited rather than put together himself and many of the players are sadly nowhere near good enough for the Championship. Had a chat with him after a recent match and felt that his enthusiasm and fondness for the club is in no doubt, and he has a plan for next season (and hopefully beyond). In the video after the Halifax match he mentions having a half a squad ready for next season so plans are already afoot that tie in with our budget constraints, which is encouraging. Remember, this time last season we were celebrating promotion but it was confirmed that our coach was leaving and we were in a state of limbo which, for me, is where our current problems started. Good luck to Marchy, he definitely deserves a crack.

Yesterday was probably my lowest point in watching the club regularly since 1987, on a par with Runcorn away 1991. There are a handful of good players in our squad though obviously most are not good enough for this level. However they are increasingly looking like an uncoached, ill-disciplined, unmotivated rag-rag rabble. The coach has had 18 matches to stamp his mark on the team in terms of gameplan, fitness, defence, attitude, motivation, strength, organisation, playing squad etc yet we seem to be going backwards in all those categories. Like other fans I'd like to hear some kind of message about where the club intends to go from here. In the meantime, bring on the off-season.

Depressingly poor today. It's very hard to see much of a future for the team or club as things stand. I don't think there's much point of us being anything other than a League One club without any medium to long term planning. It's simply not in the club's interest to be a Championship club any more if we are just going to make up the numbers for a few months. I've heard of talk of Paul March wanting to sign a lot of local lads for next season to get local people more interested in the club. I don't think that's a bad idea if we can find players who want to play for the club and shirt. And hopefully if they do we can sign them on contracts for a few years (more than one, at least) to develop a rapport between the players and the fans. Then maybe build a platform for the future. Give us something to want to turn up for. But Championship rugby league? We're not suited for it any more.

It's a shame we don't have a programme any more. They would always contain a column written by the chairman and another by the coach.

I enjoyed yesterday's game far more than I expected to. Effort-wise I have no complaints. Watching our lads trying to run the ball out of their own 20 in the second half was painful as a spectator, I dread to think what it must have been like for them. We are nowhere near big or strong enough.. and yet.. we fought hard and almost pinched it at the death. Credit to all the players yesterday, especially Dale Ferguson who I thought had his best game in a Dewsbury shirt and it would have been fitting if he could have got over for a try at the end. It was great watching him carry three or four of their players down the field for 20 metres at a time. Agree with the above comment about more clarity over the state of the club. In the meantime we have to salvage what entertainment we can out of watching the team and for me there was a fair bit yesterday. It was a nice touch having the hospice folk along too, it made it feel like we do exist as part of a larger community, for once.

Like many other fans I can't stand the rule allowing players to sign for other clubs mid-season... but why the heck don't we use it too? I think part of our problem this season is that we didn't start recruiting and planning for life in the Championship early enough, even though we knew by last August that we were going up – which gave us a nice head start. Again, this season we pretty much know we're going to be in League One in 2025 so it would be nice to have some reason for optimism about it – maybe by announcing that we're keeping one or two of our strike players. I'm guessing we're going to have to wait until November to hear that we've signed a few former Super League academy players and that Sykesy is going round again

Ronan Dixon going to Halifax by the sounds of it. Enjoyed watching him play – and all the others who are going. Will the last player out please turn off the lights.

Missing Friday Night Lights this year..

Bramley in League One? I'm looking forward to relegation now..

Great effort again from the players and an improvement in defence against what I thought was the strongest team we've played yet. Butterworth was superb on his return and Fergie also gave us a big lift.

Fergie and O'Connor in the squad for Sunday but no dual reg players. Good to have them back and hoping for a Toulouse-esque performance without the penalties.

Wish they still made them out of boiler suit material and put collars on them.