Doncaster RLFC: Star makes honest admission ahead of 'home' clash vs Swinton

The former Goole Rugby Union Club three-quarter echoed the post-match comments of head coach Richard Horne when reflecting on the club’s second successive defeat which, coupled with others results, saw the Dons drop two places to 11th in the Championship.

A regular in recent seasons during the club’s bid to get out of League One, Halliday has found his chances more limited this season following the close-season arrival of Luke Briscoe and more recently Buretta Faraimo.

But the way that fans’ favourite Halliday has responded to losing his place in the team prior to Briscoe’s knee injury, which is likely to keep him out for several more weeks at least, reflects his professionalism.

“I’ve continued to train hard; you can’t spit your dummy out,” he said. “They are both quality players and they’ve been around a long time and you can learn from what they do. I’m picking up things.”

Halliday made his return in the 52-0 defeat at Toulouse. "It was a pretty tough game but I was glad that it was rather than an easier game," he said.

Things weren’t much easier in the game at Odsal. And, as was the case in France, the Dons didn’t help their own cause – especially in the first half. “How many sets did we complete in the first half on Sunday?” he questioned. “It just wasn’t good enough.

“We shouldn’t have to wait until half-time after playing rubbish and then get a rocket and then start playing better. We should play like that from the start. But that hasn’t been happening in recent weeks and we need to get back how we were playing earlier in the season starting with Saturday’s game against Swinton at Featherstone’s ground.”

Horne has targeted four points from the upcoming double-header against Swinton and Dewsbury in a bid to halt the slide down the table, but admitted: “If we roll out that performance again against Swinton we aren’t going to get the result we want.

“We know it’s going to be really tough because Swinton, although they lost at home on Sunday, have been in good form of lately.”