Paul Cooke says the Dons have quashed talk of complacency behind the changing room door.
Cooke has not hidden his frustration at a string of poor performances from his side in recent weeks, culminating in the defeat at Whitehaven last weekend.
But he says complacency cannot be an issue following clear the air talks among the squad.
“We’ve had that chat about complacency and that doesn’t seem to be the issue,” Cooke told the Star.
“We’ve discussed it as a staff and I know the players have been talking about it.
“I don’t think it is the reason behind the poor month for us because it’s been so openly discussed.
“We have always laid down that no matter how good we’ve started the season, you cannot take anything for granted.
“There’s still a long way to go and plenty of work ahead if we’re going to finish in the top eight, which is our basic goal.”
Despite the run of poor performances according to Cooke, the Dons have managed to maintain their high flying position in the Championship.
On Sunday the Dons go to Leigh, who have a perfect record from their ten games so far.
Cooke said: “The positive from the last two games with Barrow and Whitehaven is that we’ve picked up four points out of six when we deserved nothing.
“We all know we’ve got to be better and that’s certainly the case when we go to Leigh.
“The lads will know that and I’m expecting a big improvement because we’ll need one.”