Not to my knowledge, though Danny was pictured in the T&A wearing a no.17 training top...which of course, may or may not be [ientirely[/i relevant.

Is that odd considering our pre-season friendlies start this weekend?

It would only be odd if he turned to not be no.17, I suppose, though I'd expect him to take no.6 if I'm honest. There have been stories about players being allowed to pick their own numbers, if so, he may well have decided to stick with 17, so who knows.

Is there to be a shirt presentation night this year?

I wouldn't read anything in to Addy wearing a 17 shirt.

He was supposed to be number 17 last year, until the whole debacle of removing the number 16 when Winterstein left. When they did the presentation night and the e-mail list of numbers different (some idiot moved everyone up a number in the e-mail, but not on the presentation night).
So although Addy was 16 last year, he was actually supposed to be 17, and was issued with training gear last season with the number 17 on. If you notice, numerous players wore training gear one number out (Adam Henry wore gear with 22 on for example).

The picture in the T&A could just be one of him in last year's training gear, so the fact it has 17 on is irrelevant.


Although now I've gone through all that, he'll likely be given 17 this year too....

On Addy do we think he’ll be a regular starter? Or more of a bench player?

I’m sure he has gone on record saying he’d like to concentrate on playing as a loose forward. Would he get into the side consistently? I’m not so sure. When you consider Walker as captain is likely to be a regular that leaves two other backrow spots.

I think we need some size in the backrow, preferably with some pace too. I’d prefer to see Ferguson and Walshaw there with Pitts as backup. I’m also hopeful Mellor will come through this year as he has a lot of potential. I’m not sure where Addy fits in since when we had a lightweight backrow we offer less in attack and get pushed around in defence.

I'd expect Chev to get the no. 13 berth only if Jimmy uses the tactic of using the loose as an extra prop. If you want an attacking player, I reckon Danny adds far more to the team when running, kicking and passing than Chev - the converse being that Chev is probably the better defender. If we're seeing plenty of the ball, which is likely in many of the games, I'd stick with Danny at loose and Chev in the second row.

I confess I'm still a little bemused by the fact that a guy who didn't play many full games last season, as captain, is likely to get a fair bit more game time this time round. Obviously, the game is slower in this division so you'd expect it to be easier for the 'vets' though, that said, Jimmy has been talking about playing at SL speed, so who knows? From what I've seen of Championship rugby in general the referees don't really punish defenders for laying on until it seems they have fallen asleep, so playing at SL speed is likely to be wishful thinking.

The same noises are made every year about how he wants to play in the back row. Then he inevitably ends up being a utility player moved all over the place to cover various positions.

I don't expect that to change to be honest. Addy is always going to be a great squad player without being a great player in any particular position.

I agree. His versatility is his real strength. Given we only have 3 halfbacks I reckon he’ll figure there and in the backrow.

Hopefully having 7 props will mean his days of playing there are over.

I think the LF position is between Petersen and Addy. I'm hoping Dave turns out to be a carbon copy of James Donaldson, but time will tell on that front.
I also don't think Chev is guaranteed a starting spot just because he's captain. IIRC when his captaincy was announced, Jimmy made specific mention to his leadership off the pitch just as much as on it. To me that reads like he won't necessarily be on the pitch all that much.
Anyway, he's a crock so he'll be injured in no time at all.

Unless Petersen puts some beef on I can’t see him figuring as much as Addy in the pack. According to the stats Petersen is at 89kgs the lightest of the backrowers by some way. Addy is 9kgs heavier.

Personally I'm not looking for a bulky loose forward. I know some teams use them as an extra prop to make drives etc but I would rather have somebody more elusive in attack, almost acting like a third pivot, and then just a decent tackling machine with plenty of stamina when it comes to the defensive side of things.

It's his first full-time season so I expect it takes a bit of time to gain that amount bulk - if indeed he is going to.

I'm with you on this one. I thought Peterson had decent pace and went back the utube vid to check. What is noticeable is the increase in pace between the early SL clips and the Aussie clips, his speed out of the line to flatten kickers and to make tackles is impressive. Its easy to see how he got a second year with the Cutters. and the vid probably has more clips of him tackling than attacking. He weighs 5 kg more than AOB who did 722 tackles last season, more than Sidlow, with a missed tackle ratio of 6%.

Agree with this. We've had years of a loose forward acting as 3rd prop in Langley. Much rather we went with a ball handling style of loose to give us more attacking options. Expect walker to start season there but then one of Peterson or Addy to displace him as season progresses.