Doncaster's success is no surprise to former coach Thornton

He was sacked by the South Yorkshire club 12 months ago in a move that surprised some.

Doncaster, with ex-Hull FC star Richard Horne now at the helm, are currently third in League 1 with seven wins from their opening nine games.

Hunslet are down in ninth but Thornton took plenty of positives from their 26-24 defeat to joint-leaders York City Knights last time out.

“We took a lot of encouragement from our performance in that game, certainly in the second period,” he said.

“We did pretty well for 50 minutes and we just need to do that for longer.

“Doncaster are going well and they have certainly invested some money since I left.

“They set out their intentions at the start of the year and it is no surprise they are now up there.

“They play some expansive rugby and that ground – a great ground to play in – suits that.

“But I know Richard will have watched that York game and hopefully he’ll be worrying about us a little bit as well.”

That said, Hunslet are struggling with injuries with Lewis Reed (hamstring) the latest added to their lengthening list.

“It’s a good job we signed a big squad as we’re probably down to our last 18 or 19 fit players this weekend,” added Thornton.

“Hopefully we’ll get a few players back in the next few weeks and we’ll just push on.”