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Current squad templates

What's the purpose of current squad templates e.g. {{St Helens R.F.C. current squad}} (or their section equivalents in articles)? Is it

1. to show the players, positions and numbers over the season, or
2. a snapshot of who is in the squad at the moment?

So for example, should Harry Newman be showing {{Leeds Rhinos current squad}} because he is a member of the Leeds squad and also in {{Hull F.C. current squad}} because he has spent some time there on loan? Or, should he not be in the Leeds squad template as it stands today but only in the Hull squad template as he on loan there this week (and should be removed from the Hull template and re-added to the Leeds template if he's back at the Rhinos next week)? Nthep (talk) 16:11, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

As I've understood it, I've worked the latest seasons as a snapshot of the squad as it stands - i.e. see Salford 2025 - but when putting historic squads together (i.e. 2010 or below?), I have no other option but to put the whole team, regardless of mid-season movement, on the table.

The call really relies on whether the mysterious IP/temp account editor sticks to whatever we agree on, but in my mind, I'd comment out Newman for Leeds for the period of his loan. Unless we can create some sort of new format to denote when a player is away on loan?

To be fair, I'm not aware of a similar template system being used for teams/rosters outside Rugby League; technically speaking, we already have templates like {{Leeds Rhinos squad}} that are more in common with rugby union and assoc. football. Hullian111 (talk) 16:28, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

I follow your second example and keep it as a snapshot of the current available squad, with the squad section of the season article used for a complete account of all assigned numbers throughout the year. Rolling loans, particularly the new one-week loans, complicate things - I'm not sure if there would be a precedent outside rugby league where they can be stopped/started so fluidly week-to-week. I would show Newman in the Hull template and not the Leeds template, based on who he is available to represent in this moment, and vice versa when he is recalled. I would include him in both the 2026 Leeds Rhinos season and 2026 Hull FC season squads. Ieatseatbelts (talk) 18:46, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

Sorry but the last part there doesn't make sense as {{Hull F.C. current squad}} is used in both 2026 Hull FC season and Hull F.C. so you are either showing Newman in both or neither.

Personally I think the tables should follow option 1 and show the squad and all those who have been in it (regardless of whether they are still in it or not), so loanees (in or out) should be included as they are/were members of the squad. When loanees came or went elsewhere can either be included in the text or in the tables in the transfer section like Leeds Rhinos#2026 transfers.

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia not a news source so I really don't see the point in trying to show day-to-day movements when at the end of the season then all the players who represented the team need to be included. Nthep (talk) 19:36, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

With regard to that last paragraph, at the end of the season, I usually copy the template as-is into the 'Squad' section ahead of the next season. Is "all the players who represented the team need to be included" in the table at the end of the season some part of the style guide we've collectively forgot about? Hullian111 (talk) 19:57, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

I'm not sure there is a style guide for club articles but surely it's encyclopedic content to have a record in there of the players who represented the club that season? Nthep (talk) 20:13, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

As the short term loan system is going to make it very much harder for maintenance, an option could be to treat the template as a "current season" squad, giving the squad as announced at the start of the season, and leave it unchanged throughout as the loans and transfers are all listed separately below anyway. That way once the season is over, the loans/transfers can be added to the version used in the old season article, and the current version can be updated for the new season and club articles. This would also minimise the problem with keeping the template up-to-date on a weekly basis where the supporting citations for player loans are sometimes not available until after the loan is almost over – when they would no longer be useful for the squad template (though still needed in the transfers section). EdwardUK (talk) 20:18, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

I would say both are current templates and in line with other projects they should reflect the squad that is available at the current time. If a player is on loan from a club, he should show as available in both Navbox rugby league squad and the Rugby league squad of his loan club, and hidden (but not totally removed) in his parent club. I agree that the new loan system does make this more difficult to track and keep up-to-date, and there may well be a better way to show the unavailability of a loan player within the two current templates. What I would say is that for historical or non-current season articles I see the Rugby league squad template as the entirety of the squad over the whole season, regardless of whether they came in on loan for 1 game, spent the season on loan or signed on for the last game of the season. Who knows what the future may hold in 2027, and whilst what we do currently appears to be in line with other projects, we are not beholden to their ways of working.Fleets (talk) 07:27, 8 May 2026 (UTC)

For the Rls template, would it be an option to list in-on-loan players using the column2/list4 parameters so it would not require any rearranging of the rest of the squad to fit them in, and for both clubs to mark them using the other= parameter in their Rls player template, maybe create icons for loan-in and loan-out (similar to the {{subon}}/suboff arrows, which when hovered over would display for example "on loan from xxxx". EdwardUK (talk) 14:59, 8 May 2026 (UTC)

Clean-up List

I don't want to make this change in case I mess something up, but the link currently at "Clean up" under #How to help is broken. I can see a link in the infobox to a clean-up list for the project; should this link be put in where the broken one is?

Probably a silly question, but I just wanted to make sure I don't do the wrong thing :)

Thanks, JordyGrey _talk🧸 04:40, 3 June 2026 (UTC)

I've updated it - Well done for spotting that, I am not sure how long it has been broken, but I replaced the infobox link back in October 2022. I hadn't noticed the other one needed updating too as I usually get to the clean-up list through one of the userboxes on my user page. EdwardUK (talk) 07:27, 3 June 2026 (UTC)

Awesome, thank you! JordyGrey _talk🧸 07:38, 3 June 2026 (UTC)

NRL Pre-season Challenge page

So there's no NRL Pre-season Challenge page, but there are pages for the 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026 NRL Pre-season Challenges? I'm not sure how to add this to requested articles page, but I feel like there should be one collective page, even if it's only a list of the individual pages. Could someone help me out by adding it to requested articles somewhere? JordyGrey _talk🧸 08:48, 4 June 2026 (UTC)

Probably the best place to ask for it. I have a lot on my plate at the moment but if no one else gets to it I can try to bash something together based on the existing articles. Primefac (talk) 21:52, 4 June 2026 (UTC)

Well, no rush. Thanks for getting back to me :) JordyGrey _talk🧸 23:07, 4 June 2026 (UTC)

Merging 'Category:Cumberland rugby league team players' into 'Category:Cumbria rugby league team players'

Hi all,

I started this discussion in the Teahouse, and had some feedback already, so rather than repeat myself, the history is there.

The 2 categories are essentially the same, albeit Cumberland refers to pre-1973.

The county of Cumbria was created in the 1970s as an amalgamation of Cumberland & Westmorland, however there never was a corresponding Westmorland rugby league team; with players from Barrow-in-Furness (part of Westmorland) playing for Cumberland, therefore I argue that they're the same.

Many clubs have changed their names over time, I cite London Broncos, Halifax, Salford & Midlands Hurricanes as examples, and none of these differentiate between players that have played under the earlier names.

There are some 'phoenix' teams however that do, e.g. Hunslet, Newcastle Thunder & Sheffield, but I think that their circumstances do warrant that discrimination. Robinson Drinkald (talk) 13:00, 4 June 2026 (UTC)

Pre-1973 Barrow was part of Lancashire, not Westmorland. As long as the Category is for players who appeared for the Cumberland/Cumbria County team and not players who have played for a team now in Cumbria then I've no issue. But if it is for players who have played for a club in Cumbria then it must exclude any who played for Barrow pre-1973. Nthep (talk) 21:20, 4 June 2026 (UTC)