Paul Cooke has revealed that major surgery to his squad was never on the agenda - because of the work ethic already installed in the Doncaster dressing room.
Cooke has built on the foundations laid by Tony Miller and his reign as player coach got off to an encouraging start on Sunday with a 16-16 friendly draw against Super League Hull FC.
“These lads graft and graft and graft,” said Cooke.
“We’ve kept the majority of last season’s squad together for that reason. The group is a strong group.
“They were disappointed to only draw the game on Sunday but I like to see that.
“It was what we needed as a group and we got we wanted out of the game,” added Cooke.
“We know that we’ve got stuff to work on in attack.
“But defensively I thought we were half decent for large parts, until we gave them too much ball in the last fifteen to ten minutes.
“On the whole the staff and myself were happy with the defensive effort. We worked very hard for each other.
“We could see what we’ve been working on in training for the last three months come to some sort of fruition.
“I think we’ll be a tough team to beat if we take that kind of attitude into games.”
Liam Cunningham, who was forced off with a nasty looking injury, will be assessed by the club’s physio this week, although the early indications ruled out any broken bones.
Kyle Kesik and Matt Carbutt also picked up knocks and may miss training this week.
Dons’ next friendly is at Dewsbury Rams on Febuary 2.