2008
During the run up to the 2008 season, on 29 November 2007 it was announced on the official Doncaster RLFC website that Head Coach John Stankevitch had resigned, due to "personal reasons". On 14 December 2007, rugby league legend Ellery Hanley was unveiled as Stankevitch's replacement. The Dons were drawn into Northern Rail Cup Group 3 alongside London Skolars, Crusaders and South Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Eagles. The Dons qualified for the knock-out phase still with a game in hand by beating London at home and away as well as taking bonus points off Sheffield and Celtic, who both play in a higher division. The last game of the group however saw an unprecedented event from the Rugby Football League. Having travelled to Bridgend to take on the Crusaders the game was called off near to the kick-off due to a severely water-logged pitch. The RFL ruled that as the result of this game was immaterial to every side in the competitions’ qualifying ambitions the match would not need to be rescheduled. The Dons started the 2008 league campaign with a bang, winning three from three with 56 - 0, 54 - 12 and 36 - 18 wins. This saw them go top of the league at the end of March, a month in which stand-off Kyle Briggs also won the National League Two Player of the Month. Doncaster beat Oldham 18-10 in the National League Two Grand Final at Warrington to seal promotion alongside Gateshead and Barrow. Ellery Hanley resigned as coach, citing financial restraints.
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