Play-offs 'the bare minimum' target for the Dons - Hey

Brad Hey insists reaching the Betfred Championship play-offs next season must be the minimum target for the Dons.

Brad Hey insists reaching the Betfred Championship play-offs next season must be the minimum target for the Dons.

The centre has signed a new two-year deal with the club and is hunting a finish within the upper reaches of the new-look second tier in 2026.

The 31-year-old believes the lessons from last season, particularly the disappointing finish to the campaign, will stand the group in good stead for achieving better next term.

“As a group, it has to be the play-offs as a minimum,” Hey said. “I know a few of the lads have spoken about it already but we set that as a goal last year and it’s still in the back of our minds.

“As well as developing and getting new players in, it’s still there for us. I’m sure recruitment will be very good so it’s about kicking on from last season and play-offs will be a minimum.

“Going through the adversity that we did last time out, it was quite new to a lot of us. That as well as what happened towards the back end of the year, it’s definitely something we can learn from.

“We were disappointed with the performances late on in the season but we’ll learn from it - probably the hard way - and we’ll know the level we need to be at in order to be up the ladder.

“You can take getting beat convincingly, but when it’s down to you as much as the other team, that’s probably most frustrating. That’ll be one of the key points we look at, consistency, and hopefully we can progress to better than what we did last season.”