Paul Wellens and Ade Gardner have seemingly entered the final chapters of their prestigious careers after it was announced they will both wear substitute squad numbers for St Helens in 2014.
Wellens, 33, has effectively owned the number one jersey at the Merseyside club since he joined in 1998 and has made 460 appearances, scoring 216 tries. The club captain will wear number 17 in 2014.
Jonny Lomax will now don the number one shirt and Luke Walsh replaces him at number seven.
Ade Gardner, meanwhile, has made 283 St Helens appearances since his debut in 2002. He has scored an impressive 169 tries and represented his country 15 times.
In a direct swap, the 30-year-old will pull on Tommy Makinson’s 21 shirt, while the 22-year-old will wear number two.
The St Helens 2014 squad numbers:
1 Jonny Lomax
2 Tommy Makinson
3 Jordan Turner
4 Josh Jones
5 Adam Swift
6 Lance Hohaia
7 Luke Walsh
8 Mose Masoe
9 James Roby
10 Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook
11 Sia Soliola
12 Jon Wilkin
13 Willie Manu
Selected others: 14 Anthony Laffranchi, 15 Mark Flanagan, 16 Kyle Amor, 17 Paul Wellens, 18 Alex Walmsley, 21 Ade Gardner.
