Dons must be quicker out of the blocks in Rochdale clash - boss

“Gary (Thornton) has been around for a long time and he knows how to get his side revved up,” said Horne.

“They’ve got a young team with some experience scattered throughout the side so they are going to be full of energy.

“They had a big win over London at the weekend and if we start like we did against Oldham at the weekend then we are going to be in trouble.

"That is something we are going to have to get right not just this weekend but going forward because as we’ve seen in our first two games there are some good sides in the division this season.

“We started poorly in both games we’ve played and I’m wondering if the players are too relaxed in the dressing room before going out.

"Our completion rate in the first half was only 50 per cent and that takes energy out of the players and you can’t play the way you want to play.

“They played well to open up an 18-0 lead in the first half but that is what can happen when you are playing a side which have a lot of the ball and have some smart players as they have.

“We got it back to 20-12 at half time with the first two of Jack Sanderson’s four tries. I’m glad that both he and (fellow centre) Brad Hey turned up today otherwise it could have been a different story.

“We addressed the fact that we weren’t completing our sets, which we needed to do to get back into the game, at half time, and we did that.

"It was 80-85 per cent in the second half and that gave us the opportunity to post points and give ourselves a chance.

“I was always confident that we could get back into the game if we got things right because we’ve got the strike power to score from all over the field. We aren’t just a side who has to be in our opponents 20m zone.”

Asked whether he felt his pack had lost some mobility following the close-season departure of young second-rower Leon Ruan to Leeds Rhinos, Horne said: ”I think the problem we’ve got is that our middles are having to do too much defending at times and, as I said earlier, it’s sapping their energy when we’ve got the ball.”