That's why it comes down to picking our best 17 and worrying about the numbers on their backs later.
Here are our tight forwards contracted for next year:
Allgood
Alvaro
Harrison
Lussick
Mannah
Ma'afu
Moimoi
Mossop
Paulo
Paulo
Ryan
Santi
Smith
Terepo
Ualesi
That's fifteen blokes. Obviously a couple of them can also play on the edges but would be competing with specialist edge forwards such as Tanginoa, Edwards and Mau (and giant outside back Jacob Loko).
Of the fifteen, only three of them are (IMO) certainties for the top 17: Mannah, Lussick and Mossop.
Of the remaining twelve, four of them are certainties to not be in the top 17: Alvaro, Ma'afu, Santi and Ualesi.
That leaves eight who are competing for three spots in the top 17: Allgood, Harrison, Moimoi, Paulo, Paulo, Ryan, Smith, Terepo. Of these, Harrison, Ryan and Smith are also competing for an edge forward spot.
Anyway, we certainly have a lot of competition for spots, which could be seen as a good thing or a bad thing. Both teams in this week's grand final have very little competition for spots because most of their top 17 were decided in the pre-season.