miller keeps ambitions at realistic level

That is certainly some statement. After all, the South Yorkshire outfit finished top of Championship One last season, went on to nudge past Barrow Raiders in the Grand Final, saw Paul Cooke win player of the season, had Tony Miller take the coaches award and they were also named club of the year.

They begin life back in the Championship against Dewsbury Rams on Sunday confident they can build on all of those feats.

“We know it’s going to be a big challenge but we’ve brought in five new players, kept most from last year and go in with confidence,” said Miller.

“Consolidation and keeping in the division will be our main goal but I feel we have a chance of reaching mid-table and, if we get that, it will be as successful as anything we did last year.

“I think there will be some surprises. We only lost three games last season and they were all at Cumbrian clubs – Barrow, Whitehaven and Workington – who all got promoted with us.

“If anybody in the Championship under-estimates those trips up there, they will definitely come unstuck.”

All eyes will be on Doncaster’s first meeting with champions Sheffield Eagles in an eagerly-anticipated South Yorkshire derby.

“That will be brilliant for the region but we’ve got eight Yorkshire derbies this year compared to none at all last season,” said Miller.

“We did so much travelling back then so it will be good for both the club and the supporters that we have more on our doorstep now.

“We’ve come a long way in the last four years at Doncaster and we are in a good position now to kick on.”

They will be encouraged by the new format in the expanded 14-team Championship, which sees the top eight feature in play-off football.

That has moved from six last year and now mirrors the Super League system.

It will offer clubs targeting mid-table, such as Doncaster, the chance to realistically take one of those additional places while two clubs will be relegated.

Featherstone Rovers, who have finished top for the last three seasons, are seen as favourites despite Sheffield pipping them in last season’s Grand Final.

Rovers host Leigh on Sunday, another team who have invested heavily with the capture of Halifax captain Sean Penkywicz, ex-Great Britain international Martin Aspinwall from Hull FC and Super League duo Thomas Coyle and Simon Finnigan from Widnes.

John Kear’s Batley Bulldogs, meanwhile, host a much-changed Keighley Cougars while Hunslet Hawks entertain promoted Barrow.

York City Knights – who finished bottom in 2012 – head to Whitehaven for one of those tricky Cumbrian trips Miller eluded to.