I think one thing he did offer last year was a sufficient defensive workload to enable us to have a luxury like Feka in the forwards.

As for next year on the [iright[/i contract i'd sign him up now - I however think BN moving on will be the best thing that's happened to Fielden, as I think BN had totally no idea how to get Stu firing again. I think if anybody can do it it's SW, MM and Bitcon - you're right if he has a poor season then he's had it career wise, I'm just pretty optimistic that he'll have a good one.

He's been given the No. 8 shirt so MM must see something in him.

Big season required from SF......

I noticed this, he had no problem dumping Feka/Bailey/Goulding and rewarding Sam/Phelps/Coley. So Stuart must be showing something to warrant his squad number.

Possibly without the lens of emotion and his contract value, Stu's not quite the poor footballer he's made out to be?

It has to though when he's on a contract already and there's bugger all you can do about it for a few years. As a coach you've got to pick your most effective team, it doesn't matter if a player isn't 'living up to his contract value' if he's the best option you have for the spot then you pick him regardless. All you can do is wait for the contract to be up, and then renegotiate or not renew it. Anything else in the meantime is either cutting your nose off to spite your face, or just causing yourself angst over a situation that you can't change About the only situation I can think of to drop a player who's still the best for his spot is for disciplinary reasons.

Come on AJ, 'happy clap' you just might find you like it It's a happier more peaceful world as a fan if you do Maybe we need a theme tune we can happily clap along to together

1st season away from Brian Noble - a chance to change for Fielden although it may well be too late. But obviosuly MM sees something in him or else he wouldnt have thatnumber 8 shirt next season.

Stu Fielden is, and always has been one of the best trainers and most dedicated pros in Superleague. I'm sure Maguire, Bitcon and Wane will have taken this into consideration when handing out the squad numbers.

I honestly think the squad numbers have barely been given a moment's thought.

That's not a criticism, its just I feel they've been released to help boost shirt sales which makes sense. All the numbers handed out are common sense selections based on last season.

Or could it be that bedause Stuart offers no impact whatsoever when coming off the bench that MM has decided to start games with him hence the shirt number

Or perhaps Maguire has seen that Stuart has finally come out of his comfort zone, is training really hard and has got back a bit of much needed freshness and desire to his game?