Head Coach: Dave Walder
Captain: Will Welch
Ground: Kingston Park
Capacity: 10,200
PREDICTED FINISH: 12TH
The Falcons are getting used to life without Dean Richards who in the summer stepped down as director of rugby after 10 years at the helm. Dave Walder has stepped up and a tweak in style can be expected after two seasons when strong starts have been followed by slumps and a lowly league position.
Walder wants Newcastle to exploit the 4G surface at Kingston Park by playing quick, heads-up rugby, something that was rarely an option in the days when the field became heavy and cloying during the dark winter months.
He wants his side to make optimum use of the skill and pace they have behind, not least Adam Radwan, below, on the wing who was unable to build on his fast start with England partly because he was too often a frustrated figure with his club. Newcastle are not the richest club in the Premiership but Walder does not see that as a disadvantage.
He believes that fans in the north-east identify with ones of their own and the Falcons are well served by their academy.
As a fan of Newcastle United, who after years of their supporters despairing at what they saw was a lack of ambition, he feels there is an audience to be enticed.
INS AND OUTS
IN: Freddie Lockwood (academy), Iwan Stephens (academy), Tian Schoeman (Bath), Josh Peters (Doncaster Knights), Conrad Cade (academy), Josh Thomas (Ospreys), Sebastian de Chaves (Austin Gilgronis), Josh Barton (Coventry), Matias Moroni (Leicester Tigers), Vereimi Qorowale (British Army)
OUT: Louis Schreuder (Bath), Will Haywood-Wood (Wasps), Robbie Smith (Northampton Saints), Rob Farrar (Ealing Trailfinders), Will Montgomery (Ealing Trailfinders), Josh Basham (London Irish), Mike Brown (released), Luther Burrell (released), Oscar Caudle (released), Kyle Cooper (released), Joel Hodgson (released), Ollie Lindsay-Hague (released), Mathew Ward (released), Max Wright (Bath), Marco Fuser (Massy), Morgan Passman (Darlington Mowden Park)
They are not the biggest team in the league, but Walder wants them to become the canniest, making the most of what they have and getting the ballo
2022-23 SQUAD
Jamie Blamire, Charlie Maddison, George McGuigan, Adam Brocklebank, Conrad Cade, Trevor Davison, Conor Kenny, Logovi'i Mulipola, Richard Palframan, Mark Tampin, Matthew Dalton, Sebastian De Chaves, Freddie Lockwood, George Merrick, Josh Peters, Greg Peterson, Callum Chick, Connor Collett, Carl Fearns, Gary Graham, Tom Marshall, Sean Robinson, Philip van der Walt, Will Welch , Josh Barton, Cameron Nordli-Kelemeti, Sam Stuart, Micky Young, Brett Connon, Tian Schoeman, Josh Thomas, Pete Lucock, Matias Moroni, Matias Orlando, George Wacokecoke, Mateo Carreras, Nathan Earle, Vereimi Qorowale, Adam Radwan, Iwan Stephens, Ben Stevenson, Tom Penny, Alex Tait
