Poor Delaney. Not only does he lose his first XIII squad number he gets given the cursed 15 shirt

I think that's a cracking squad. Would've preferred no Webb but I'll settle for that. McShane will be interesting. Great player. Let's see how he gets on filling Mr. Buderus' shoes.

Great mix of youth and experience.

Just a silly side... but how many GF winners rings are there in that squad?

Would be interesting to see a table of all the SL squads. Surely we'd be head and shoulders above the others?

Well, I reckon:

1. Brent Webb 4
2. Ben Jones-Bishop * 1
3. Kallum Watkins * 1
4. Zak Hardaker * 1
5. Ryan Hall 3
6. Danny McGuire 5
7. Rob Burrow 5
8. Kylie Leuluai 4
9. Paul McShane * 1?
10. Jamie Peacock 7
11. Jamie Jones-Buchanan 5
12. Carl Ablett 4
13. Kevin Sinfield (c) 5
14. Lee Smith * 3
15. Brett Delaney * 1
16. Ryan Bailey 5
17. Ian Kirke 4
18. Chris Clarkson * 1
19. Weller Hauraki * 1
20. Darrell Griffin *
21. Richard Moore *
22. Jay Pitts
23. Brad Singleton *
24. Liam Hood *
25. Stevie Ward *
26. Luke Ambler *
27. Luke Briscoe *
28. Jamel Chisholm *
29. Jared Stewart
30. Daniel Smith *


So about 60 then. 61 if Pitts got a medal this year maybe.


On the squad front, as somebody who sees little or no academy action these days, how excited should I be about Stevie Ward? Will he be likely to feature much for the first team this year?

Brent Webb - 4
Ben Jones-Bishop - 1
Kallum Watkins - 2 (maybe)
Zak Hardaker - 1
Ryan Hall - 4
Danny McGuire - 5
Rob Burrow - 5
Kylie Leuluai - 4
Paul McShane - 2 (maybe)
Jamie Peacock - 7
Jamie Jones-Buchanan - 5
Carl Ablett - 4
Kevin Sinfield (c) - 5
Lee Smith - 4
Brett Delaney - 1
Ryan Bailey - 5
Ian Kirke - 4
Chris Clarkson - 1
Weller Hauraki - 1
Darrell Griffin
Richard Moore
Jay Pitts - 1
Brad Singleton
Liam Hood
Stevie Ward
Luke Ambler
Luke Briscoe
Jamel Chisholm
Jared Stewart
Daniel Smith

I make that 64, with 2 maybes depending on whether they got one in their first season

Given that the GF win sequence is

Leeds
Wigan
Leeds
Leeds
Leeds
Saints
Bradford
Leeds
Bradford
Saints

There are probably only Paul Wellens, Paul Deacon & Leon Pryce still playing in SL who have multiple winners medals

Plus Matt Diskin? And I think Deacon has quit now hasn't he?

I doubt Hall got one in 2007, and also doubt McShane got one in 2009. I maybe shouldn't have assumed that Lee Smith didn't get one this year though.

Hall played 9 times thorughout 2007 across a large portion of the season, so I selected him based on that..
Diskin will have several too, but he's probably about the only one at Bradford with anything shiny from his career

How many has Fielden got? More than one I'd hazard.

Fielden and Gilmour too.

EL D. Stevie Ward has the potential to have a very long and successful career with the Rhinos.
Still only 17 and his all round game keeps improving and his upward curve is basically as good as he wants it to be imo.
The way he played against the Aussie juniors a month ago he hit and ran like Ellis and had the offload and passing of Ali and put in an uninterupted 60 minute stint
He 's comfortable anywhere in the BR but also has the talent to play 6 although he'd be the biggest 6 in SL.
As for the squad numbers great to see the "young guns" getting 1st 17 shirts although i'd of given Bailey the 8 shirt.
Re-Mcshane and Hardaker both players should be judged in their own right not by the shirt number they now where both have "earned" those numbers and deserve to be judged on theri own merits and not by what Senior and Buderus did in them.

Yep. Keep 'em coming. I'd forgotten Fielden was still even playing in SL. Is he still at Wigan?

I still think we could do with a strike second rower similar to Ali. While Huaraki improved throughout the season he still doesn't have the ability to change the game like Ali and link in with the centres in the back line. I think we can afford one luxury player looking at the squad, as it is made up of grafters especially in the forwards.

Ali too of course.

Would agree with that.

Also think we need a quality front-line hooker. We wouldn't have won the GF without one, we wouldn't have beaten Wire without one, and we might not even have made the playoffs without one. Having Buderus come to form masked a lot of inadequacies in our set-up. In terms of freeing up squad space, we have no idea how good Hood is or isn't at senior level, and sending him on loan to a Broncos/HKR level side would do him or us no harm at all.