These days there are quite a few players who like to have their own personal number, irrespective of the squad situation. Maybe Lewis Martin, for instance, quite likes being squad number 22 for personal or superstitious reasons, who knows these days.

I think the days when 1-13 has any relevance are now long gone.
Personally, they can run around with letters or drawings on their backs if it means we once more start winning games on a regular basis!! I'm more interested in how they perform rather than what number they are wearing.

I met Mal Maninga and chatted with him after a
England v Aus match in Melbourne
They were doing a warm down drill the next morning
with Adrian Lam running it.
They were catching funny shaped small objects in a circle.
Hand eye drill.

Anyways Mal said he’d heard of my work as a Youth
Coach and that I was in Aus.
He was surprised I had turned down the offer to run
hull kr Youth- which is true !!!

I chatted to Cam there as well and reminded him of our long chat
In Macca’s where I implored him to sign for FC.
Cam couldn’t remember- true !

I met Craig Bellamy twice and he’s an intense guy.
We sponsored Storm so he came to our work twice in the 4 years as I was HOSTPLUS.

Tim Glasby played SoO simply because he played for Storm
Otherwise a typical workhorse type of player.
He worked with me as a trainee financial adviser.

He said I was a ‘David Brent’ style of manager.

I’ve been to see Storm train a few times and last year
I had 2 meetings about looking to coach at Storm with
The U16s. I went down and watched match at Pakenham.

I decided family time and golf was more important after a
long think.

So there you have it.

Ligi Sao looks heavy in the hips and yep
He was last in the running drills.

Thankfully JC has 3-4 months with him

"Ask him ref"

You should arrange to meet Jake on your next UK visitation?
He will take you down to his golf club and you'll be able to add him to your already impressive, burgeoning, [i'I've met the stars'[/i line-up.

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/r ... gs-9695908 Hardaker and Holmes start next week. Sezer arrives Nov 18th, Rapana Nov 25th Asiata starts in December

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/r ... gs-9695908 Hardaker and Holmes start next week. Sezer arrives Nov 18th, Rapana Nov 25th Asiata starts in December

True, with them seemingly being issued so early (before all players have even arrived) it’s obvious that squad numbers are not too relevant in what Cartwright wants to do and no real indicator of his idea 17. I do think rewarding or even taking away squad numbers can still be a useful tool for player management/motivation or confidence building. You could look at it the other way and say that maybe it could be a big confidence boost for Barron getting the 2 jersey and maybe some sort of challenge laid down for him to nail down a starting spot. I remember it being a big deal and raised eyebrows years ago when a young Maguire and Burrow got given the 6 and 7 shirts at Leeds above some more senior players. They absolutely smashed it.

With him being all but certain to play prop this year i wonder if he's been allowed to put some weight on during the off season.

Good to see a few of lads out together having a coffee yesterday on a day off. Seems like it's been a really positive start to pre season.

I've heard some positive comments from a friend of one of the younger players who has said there's a complete change in things across the board. The club has been allowed to decline in so many areas, let's hope this is the start of a big change

It may not mean much to the supporters but i am certain it does to the players.
As you say Barron must be delighted to receive the no 2 shirt and if i were Martin i would be disappointed to see Briscoe given the no 5 shirt in front of him.

How can you be certain? This is just another whinge for the sake of it.

Some players will want a certain number because of the traditional one for their prefered position, some will want a number for other reasons (like Shaul in his last season). Some won't be bothered.

I would imagine that Martin would rather be in the starting XIII with 22 on his back than out of the team and training with number 5 on his kit.