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Doncaster win was perfect farewell present

29/ 9/2008

DONCASTER coach Ellery Hanley saluted his players for giving him the perfect farewell present after taking charge of his final game.

To all intents and purposes, Sunday's 18-10 Grand Final win over Oldham was Hanley's swansong after admitting he will not be in charge at the Keepmoat Stadium next season.

Hanley claimed the departure of owner Craig Harrison means it will not be 'viable' for him to remain in South Yorkshire in 2009.

Adding to the intrigue, Hanley revealed that his assistant Tony Miller had been the one responsible for informing his players an hour-and-a- half before the 1.30pm kick-off.

He said: "Craig is leaving and it's not viable for me to be at the club because of the money restraints, that's the only reason.

"If the money was there, I'd stay at Doncaster because they've been great. If you could see the contrast between the first day and today in terms of how professional they are, then you wouldn't believe it.

"An hour-and-a-half before the game, I speak to the players for four minutes and get them in the frame of mind and then don't speak to them until three or four minutes before they go out.

"Tony did that talk an hour-and-a-half before and announced it (his departure) to the players. I don't think that (the announcement) was a gamble because I like to believe I've brought a great deal of professionalism to Doncaster."

Leaving speeches aside, Hanley said his players had prepared for a tough game against an Oldham side gunning for revenge after the Yorkshiremen had ended their 13-month unbeaten home run a fortnight ago.

Having trailed 6-2 at half-time, second-half tries from Chris Buttery, Luke Gale and Kyle Briggs proved enough to give Hanley's team promotion.

Hanley said: "We always knew it was going to be a tough encounter.

Oldham are a good side who we've played three times and every single game has been tough.

"First half, we didn't control the football well enough and put them under enough strain in their 10 metre zone.

"We had to defend for extremely long periods but we played against a good side. It was an exciting game for the spectators and I'm extremely proud.

"The last four to six weeks, we've been playing Sunday, Wednesday, Sunday, Wednesday and it's taken its toll. We went in with a couple of injuries but it's been a good year all round."