""Jobe Watson will be wearing number four next year. You can always think it and dream about giving number 32 to Jobe, and fans might want it, but I think number four is a good number for him. Number four is a good number - Paul Salmon wore it last year and Leon Baker wore it. So if Jobe could ever get to be a Leon Baker I would be pretty happy because Baker was a fantastic player for us,"" Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy said prior to training today.
""It would be fair to say that he was pretty keen not to necessarily wear his dad's number and I think dad (Tim Watson) was too. We put all the options up to the players and we have come out with a good list. Some have got lower numbers and some have got new numbers. Cupido is taking Michael Long's number 13 jumper and Adam McPhee will take over 33. You can have a bit of fun with the numbers - I like the numbers game because it is how I first remember following football. I can still remember player's numbers from the 1950's.""
There were a number of jumper changes for 2003. Joel Reynolds will move from number 40 to number 29 – the guernsey worn by his late uncle and star Essendon forward of the late 1930s and early 1940s Tom Reynolds. David Hille has also changed jumpers, moving from 34 to 19. The last player to wear that guernsey was Premiership ruckman Peter Somerville. Andrew Welsh has changed from number 41 to number 12.
Of the players secured in the trade, Damian Cupido was given the huge honor of wearing the number 13 jumper that was worn by Michael Long in 2001 and which did not appear in 2002. Adam McPhee will wear the number 33 guernsey that was left vacant after Blake Caracella was traded.
Of the draftees, the number eight jumper – which was not worn last season – has been given to Jason Winderlich. The number eight jumper was last worn by Darren Bewick and it was he who coached Winderlich at Gippsland Power last season. The Bombers’ first draft selection, Jason Laycock, will wear number 26 – another Tasmanian and now assistant coach Robert Shaw wore the same number.
Young ruckman Tristan Cartledge will wear the number 22 jumper worn by Premiership ruckman John Barnes. Darren Walsh will wear number 17. Rookie Ken Hall will wear number 41 while Scott Howard has 46.
The player jumper numbers for 2003 are:
1. Mark Johnson
2. Mark Mercuri
3. Aaron Henneman
4. Jobe Watson
5. James Hird
6. Sean Wellman
7. Dean Solomon
8. Jason Winderlich
9. Adam Ramanauskas
10. Mark McVeigh
11. Damien Peverill
12. Andrew Welsh
13. Damian Cupido
14. Jason Johnson
15. Rob Forster-Knight
16. Paul Barnard
17. Darren Walsh
18. Matthew Lloyd
19. David Hille
20. Ted Richards
21. Danny Jacobs
22. Tristan Cartledge
23. Mark Bolton
24. Joe Misiti
25. Scott Lucas
26. Jason Laycock
27. Steven Alessio
28. Cory McGrath
29. Joel Reynolds
30. Sam Hunt
31. Dustin Fletcher
33.Adam McPhee
35. James Davies
36. Jordan Bannister
37. Marc Bullen
38. Shane Harvey
41. Ken Hall
42. Simon O’Keefe
43. Dean Rioli
46. Scott Howard
