Scott Fardy(36/Six) - 6'6, 114kg. Signed contract in 2020.
Rhys Ruddock(29/Six) - 6'3, 113kg. Signed contract in 2020.
Jack Conan(28/Eight-Six) - 6'4, 114kg. Signed contract in 2019.
Josh Van Der Flier(27/Seven) - 6'1, 106kg. Signed contract in 2020.
Dan Leavy(26/Seven-Six) - 6'3, 106kg. Signed contract in 2020.
Josh Murphy(25/Six) - 6'6, 108kg. Signed contract in 2020.
Will Connors(24/Seven) - 6'5, 100kg. Signed contract in 2020.
Max Deegan(23/Eight-Six-Seven)- 6'4, 108kg. Signed contract in 2019.
Caelan Doris(22/Eight) - 6'4, 106kg. Signed contract in 2020.
Ryan Baird(21/Six) - 6'6, 103kg. Signed contract in 2020.
Scott Penny(20/Seven) - 6'0, 101kg. Signed contract in 2019.
Martin Moloney(20/Seven) - 6'2, 100kg. Academy Y2.
Okay well at number 8 there are contenders for game time in Conan, Doris and Deegan, with Conan also having experience at 6 and Deegan having experience at 6 and 7. The pure 6's are Fardy, Ruddock, Murphy and Baird. The pure 7's are JVDF, Connors, Penny and Moloney. Finally that leaves Leavy whose return from a career threatening injury has been long anticipated, will he retain enough athleticism to play openside or might he transition to focusing on 6, time will tell. Keeping all of these players happy looks very unlikely, how that plays out time will also only tell.. But it looks like Deegan, Conan and Penny will be out of contract this season.. although we all know these contracts mean little if the IRFU interfere.
Possible Academy entrants:
Sean O'Brien(U21/Blackrock/UCD/Six-Eight-Seven) - 6'4, 98kg