EFL 2022: Doncaster coach Chris Annakis confident club can rebound following 135-point loss

The Sharks suffered their heaviest defeat of the season on Saturday, but re-signed coach Chris Annakis is all-in on the direction of his club. Here’s why.

Doncaster coach Chris Annakis remains bullish.

The first-year Sharks coach, who has recommitted for 2023, says he’s confident his group can bounce back from a season which has netted just five wins from 17 starts.

The club suffered a 135-point drubbing at the hands of fourth-placed South Croydon on Saturday in the Eastern league’s Premier Division.

But the three-time league medallist said belief in the club’s direction drove his decision to recommit.

Chris Annakis has recommitted as Sharks coach for next season. Picture: Davis Harrigan

“That’s probably what it is,” he said.

“I’m pretty comfortable and excited about what group we have at the moment and I think we can easily add to it through some strong recruitment that’ll complement what we already have.

“The core playing group in my opinion is very good and exciting, and when we look to add to that, it looks pretty positive for us next year.

“Recruitment’s going to be pretty tough across the board, but we’ll be looking at all avenues and we know in-house what we’re going to target. We’ll look at that at the right time.”

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Annakis said the club was confident of retaining most of the playing list for next season – but the league legend’s playing future remains undecided.

“We’ll probably wait until the season finishes and then I’ll have a bit of an assessment of how the body’s going and then we’ll make a decision towards pre-season and see how the body’s tracking come early footy season next year,” Annakis said.

Doncaster sits 10th on the ladder with a 5-12 record, with one match to play. Picture: Davis Harrigan

The Sharks kept pace with the Bulldogs for a half on the weekend before the hosts piled on 20 goals to two after the main break, consigning Annakis’ men to a fourth consecutive loss.

James Wilsen led the charge for South Croydon with seven majors while Dan King and Jordan Williams featured among their side’s best.

The visitors were dealt a heavy blow with key names Kane Henden, Jack Mahon, James Munks and Christian Thiel all succumbing to injury leaving no bench in the second half.

Building depth will be a priority at Schramms Reserve this off-season according to the coach.

“It wasn’t a great result – we started pretty strongly,” Annakis said.

“We had a few key outs going into the game which we tried to cover, but I think the depth of our list is something that needs some work so that’s’ what we’ll be focusing on in the off-season.

“We need to make sure when we have some guys come into the side that we can still get the job done and we’re not using that as any excuse.”

Doncaster is away to Noble Park in its final match of the season this weekend.