Here they are :

1 Scott Grix
2 Luke George
3 Leroy Cudjoe
4 Joe Wardle
5 Jermaine McGillvary
6 Danny Brough - Captain
7 Luke Robinson – Vice Captain
8 Eorl Crabtree
9 Shaun Lunt
10 Craig Kopczak
11 Brett Ferres
12 Luke O’Donnell
13 David Faiumu
14 Michael Lawrence
15 Larne Patrick
16 Jason Chan
17 Ukuma Ta’ai
18 Aaron Murphy
19 Jamie Cording
20 Jacob Fairbank
21 Dale Ferguson
22 Anthony Mullally
23 Matthew Dawson
24 Josh Johnson
25 Peter Aspinall
26 Nathan Mason
27 Ben Blackmore
28 Jake Connor
29 Stuart Fielden

Don't think chan should have been dropped for ferres to take the starting spot. Hope he doesn't take that badly. Chan played well last year ferres hasn't earned it yet. The rest is fair enough.

If Faiumu is hooking, who is playing loose ?

ferres...

or even odonnell/lawrence too depends on the opposition

Don't read too much into the squad numbers, Faiumu will be back up hooker IMO and think Chan and Bruno will be getting game time in the back row. Ferres, Chan and O'Donnell would be the obvious starting 3 for me.

Fielden obviously likes squad number 29 as he has had this for a number of years now and don't see him behind the likes of Johnson and Mulally just at present.

They all have a number now but I guarantee in the first game you won't see 1-13 starting and 14-17 on the bench!!

exactly

Personally I still think we will see Ferres play left hand second row.

Liked grix at full back 2 years ago - good under the high ball - and even better that he will not be exposed in the defense line with his bouncing off people grab tackles.

Paul Anderson gone for much bigger and more conservative. We will be watching different style of rugby this year.

ferguson has dropped down a fair bit hasnt he!

cording and fairbank moved ahead of him i reckon now... needs to knuckle down the lad... but think he will come good again in the 2nd row!

like has been said the squad numbers mean nowt really, if a player starts off well in a position he will keep that place - if not someone else will get it !

eeerrr ...........................is this a new tactic Daz????

well thats the idea ...it may not neccesarily work like that

l have to disagree Daz, Sportspeople tend to have big egos, the smallest things matter, look what Murphy is saying in the Examiner, l do agree the cream will rise to the top, probably a player or two outside the first 13 will have a great season and will be rewarded in team selection.
Lets look at it from another point of view. This is a world Cup year, How many players selected for England will not have a starting shirt ? l was hoping Lawrence would get the 11,12 shirt, l think he is already knocking on the door for a full England cap, but his coach does not rate him for a starting shirt, l think Lawrence will be very dissapointed, the shirt No will mean a lot to him. l hope he has a great season and McNamara looks further down the list.
So not everyone will think like l do, but these are a couple of reasons, that l think squad Nos are important

Lawrence is developing into an excellent back-row forward, I think Anderson has got it right in terms of 11, 12 & 13. Ferres I think will play 11 this season, O'Donnell could be argued to be our best second rower and Faiumu is fantastic at 13.

Except faiumu isn't going to be playing 13. How's this for an idea. Faiumu is an international, experienced player who deserves a starting number, Lunt has an ego that needs massaging and as a sweetener for making him return from Leeds he was given the 9 jersey so Lawrence who could well be playing at loose (

) gets dropped to number 14.

It's a valid thought...

very true. faiumu also very highly respected by the players, vice captain not too long ago

Just been looking through some old examiner reports - Ta'ai was originally reported to be joining the club end of November- anyone heard any news on when he's coming? Hope the visa is sorted!

He's spending Christmas with his family back in oz due after Christmas.He is in full training with the Warriors.

As if often the case there is a visa problem,but not serious enough to jeopardize things in the long run.(so they say)

Why not go back to positional numbers on game day ie 1-17 they can still have their club numbers if needed for the RL for id purposes.

Probably doesn't matter to you or I, but many, particularly kids want a favourite players shirt, a budding little Eorl probably loves his Crabtree 8 shirt, not so good if Eorl is on interchange with 15

a reason for squad number is also that players have fitted shirts now, compared to the old days where everyone wore the shirts and it did not matter if they looked like short dresses.

If Eorl was number 15 one week and the following week Luke was rotational hooker, it would look really silly. Either Eorl would be wearing a crop top, or Robinson would be wearing a belt, or a sumo suit underneath

Think there would be more than one set with different size options (especially the interchange ones) and this problem does not appear to crop up in Championship/Championship 1 but it is certainly a marketing tool pinched from football (and American Sports before that) and I guess as a way of identifying players it works be they our players or probably more useful the opposition.

They manage in the NRL.