It’s that time of year when clubs are announcing their squad numbers for next season, which leads to a rash of fans and us journos trying to 2^nd guess what each coach is thinking for their squad and who is going to be playing which position the most and who isn’t really in the coaches plans, barring an injuries and suspensions nightmare.

However, for this journo in particular, there is very little or nothing to be taken from this annual merry-go-round, and here I am going to explain why this is nothing more than a television driven, money-making publicity stunt.

Back in 1998, my team Hull FC faced our first season in Super League, squad numbers had been a thing certainly since the 1996 season and it was proving popular with an army of fans at most clubs, if not all, going and getting their favourite players name and squad number on their replica shirts.

However, just a look back to that 1998 season shows just how ridiculous it is for us to be trying to take anything out of the squad numbers as a reason for a coach giving a particular player what would be termed a starting shirt number.

In the run up to that season, my beloved Hull FC had signed St. Helens and Great Britain international legend Alan Hunte for a club record £250,000 and, given that he was signed as a Centre/Winger, you would surely expect such a big name player to be given a ‘starting number shirt’ either number 2, 3, 4 or 5 as would befit his favoured position and his importance to the team, however, he was actually given the number 21 shirt for that season, a number which this year has been given to up and coming reserves prop forward Will Gardiner who has just had his breakthrough season.

Further evidence that can be pointed to that at the start of the 2019 season, Super League legend Gareth Ellis was given the number 29 shirt, however he still started that season, we can also point to Sam Tomkins being given the number 29 shirt at Catalans Dragons, but obviously being a first team regular, you might say for obvious reasons, but given the shirt number, if it was simply just a squad number, would anybody reading this really expect players of such calibre to be given the number 29 shirt by their respective clubs?

Personally, I would suggest, look rather deeper into the squad numbers phenomenon, for instance, maybe take notice of the fact that young winger Harvey Barron, who wore the number 35 for the Airlie Birds last season, has now been given the number 2 shirt, however Hull’s top try-scorer from last season Lewis Martin has been handed the number 22 shirt now, while the aging Tom Briscoe, who could be in his last season has been given the number 5 shirt, maybe for the sake of posterity, but are the numbers on their back simply a pointer that Hull FC would have Martin and Barron wearing the number 2 if they could have both, which could easily have happened before the squad numbers farce was thrown upon us?

What does make the squad numbers a bit more interesting, although not by much, is that only the top 30 have been made public, you can also maybe read a bit into who has got the 1, 6, 7, 9 and 13 shirts for your club, because essentially they are meant to be your team’s spine players, looking at Hull FC they are Jordan Rapana, Jordan Abdull, Aidan Sezer, Amir Bourouh and John Asiata, however would anybody rule out number 14 Cade Cust, number 23 Logan Moy, number 20 Davy Litten, number 24 Jack Charles or number 30 Callum Kemp from featuring on a regular basis next season, based on what we saw from them in 2024? I would venture that it would be a very brave man that would bet against them featuring.

At the recent fans forum, I asked about the importance of such ‘reserves’ players and Richie Myler left us in absolutely no doubt, that part of the reason that players above a certain age have been brought in for their experience, but also “Because they won’t block their pathways into the first team”, obviously pointing to the fact that these players are very much a part of the club’s plans for the 2025 Betfred Super League season.

Furthermore, looking at the more fringe players, experienced back-row forward Oliver Holmes has been given the number 15 shirt, on the other hand young back row forwards Zach Jebson and Nick Staveley have been given the numbers 26 and 28 respectively, would it not be fair to almost expect either Staveley and/or Jebson to play more game time than Holmes, given the emphasis that is now being put on youth by Hull FC, or would it be fair to say that the aforementioned Will Gardiner, or number 27 Matty Laidlaw may play comparably, if not more than number 10 Ligi Sao who had a nightmare of a season last time out?

I think it’s interesting that Leon Hayes had been given the number 7 shirt at Warrington, before they had even started pre-season training, yes it’s good that a young English lad has taken over the shirt number that was worn by Aussie Josh Drinkwater last season, but it’s only what everyone was expecting anyway.

The other interesting part for me at Hull is that Centre Ryan Westerman and half back Callum Kemp have made it into the top 30 squad numbers having only made their debuts wearing numbers 54 and 55 in the final game of the season against Catalans Dragons, and it makes one wonder just how safe number 3 Zak Hardaker, number 4 Ed Chamberlain and number 7 Aidan Sezer are in their ‘starting shirts’ with these younger lads snapping at their heels?

Yes, Hull FC and every other club might start the season with their numbers one to 17 kicking off their first game of the season, but is that guaranteed? Of course not, and we certainly know that every club will use pretty much their full squads when necessary, anyway.

Written by Ian Judson (site contributor & Hull FC fan)