Featherstone Rovers are making a huge play for promotion having signed numerous players and also high quality players, and they’ve now announced their squad numbers for 2023.
Sean Long has also joined the side as head coach and with him at the helm they’ve got a man who knows Super League incredibly well as they aim to reach the top flight.
Rovers confirmed yesterday the signing of Papua New Guinean World Cup star McKenzie Yei and have since given him the number 27 as part of their announcement.
They also confirmed the extension of captain James Lockwood who will once again wear the number 10 shirt.
The side confirmed their squad numbers via tweet.
Your Featherstone Rovers squad numbers for the 2023 season have been locked in!🔒#UTR | #BlueWall pic.twitter.com/R9b4GWppsy
— Featherstone Rovers (@FevRoversRLFC) December 20, 2022
New French pair Thomas Lacans and Mathieu Cozza will wear shirts 25 and 24 whilst Caleb Aekins who joins from Leigh will wear 23.
Brandon Pickersgill retains the number one shirt but with Aekins having joined that won’t necessarily mean he is the starting full-back.
A back line in terms of numbers of Luke Briscoe, Chris Hankinson, Craig Hall and Gareth Gale will wear shirts two, three, four and five respectively.
The six shirt will be worn by Cook Islands veteran Johnothon Ford whilst seven will be worn by Warrington Wolves young loanee Riley Dean.
Onto the forward pack and Craig Kopczak will don eight, Connor Jones at hooker wearing nine and captain James Lockwood wearing the ten shirt.
New signings Brad Day and Elijah Taylor will wear 11 and 12 whilst the 12 shirt will remain with Jack Bussey.
🔢 Your 2023 Featherstone Rovers squad numbers in full!
➡️ READ: https://t.co/0sCfd0pLHN pic.twitter.com/ZCgt0bCDwD
— Featherstone Rovers (@FevRoversRLFC) December 20, 2022
Other notable numbers include former Castleford Tigers prop Junior Moors at 16, French international Gadwin Springer moving from 35 to 17 and centre Joey Leilua moves from three to 21.
Also interesting is that plenty of numbers aren’t occupied which could potentially suggest that Rovers recruitment isn’t done.
Rovers will face rivals Castleford Tigers on New Years Eve in their first pre-season game and opportunity for fans to see new players in their new numbers.
Featherstone Rovers 2023 squad numbers
1. Brandon Pickersgill
2. Luke Briscoe
3. Chris Hankinson
4. Craig Hall
5. Gareth Gale
6. Johnathon Ford
7. Riley Dean
8. Craig Kopczak
9. Connor Jones
10. James Lockwood
11. Brad Day
12. Elijah Taylor
13. Jack Bussey
14. Matty Wildie
15. John Davies
16. Junior Moors
17. Gadwin Springer
18. Josh Hardcastle
19. Luke Cooper
20. Mark Kheirallah
21. Joey Leilua
22. Dan Fleming
23. Caleb Aekins
24. Mathieu Cozza
25. Thomas Lagans
26. Tyla Hepi
27. McKenzie Yei