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Cameron Munster has been given the number 7 jersey for the Kangaroos after Australia opted out of naming their first team and instead devised their own system of numbering.
Most sides simply list their preferred 1-17 and then reserves, but given the ongoing drama surrounding the halfback role for the Kangaroos, they have worked out their own system to avoid picking between Nathan Cleary and Daly Cherry-Evans a week and a half before their first game.
Players are numbered by their appearances tally, resulting in a confusing look as Cameron Munster, who will almost certainly play as a 6, will wear the number 7.
DCE, with the most appearances, gets the 2 – captain James Tedesco is given 1 – with Ben Hunt 3 and Valentine Holmes 4.
The many debutants will simply go in alphabetical order, with Cleary assigned the 14 jumper. Only Valentine Holmes (4), Cam Murray (11) and Pat Carrigan (13), and potential bench forwards Lindsay Collins (15), Reuben Cotter (16) and Angus Crichton (17) will have numbers even vaguely related to what they might get in the traditional Australian system.
Captain James Tedesco will wear his usual No.1 jersey as captain.
Kiwis legend Tommy Leuluai will be given the honour of captaining New Zealand for their warm-up match against Leeds on Friday night.
Though the Wigan halfback is not in the squad for the World Cup, he will lead the team out as a recognition of his huge contribution to rugby league in both New Zealand and the UK in what will be the final game of his 20-year career.
Kiwis coach Michael Maguire offered Leuluai the chance to end his career with a Kiwis appearance, having served the black and white jumper since 2003, including starting at hooker in the 2008 World Cup Final win.
The playmaker might be considered the last of a dying breed of Kiwi players: those who played the bulk of their elite career in the Super League.
Leuluai has played over 400 games, with 365 in the Super League. He began with the Warriors before moving to London, then Wigan, then back to the Warriors between 2013 and 2016 before returning to Wigan for another long stint.
Over the journey, he picked up two Super League titles, two Challenge Cups, a World Cup Challenge and the Harry Sunderland Trophy, the UK equivalent of the Clive Churchill Medal, for his performance in the 2010 Super League Grand Final.
NRL Grand Final referee Ashley Klein has been named to officiate at the Rugby League World Cup, joining a host of officials from around the world who will control games across the mens and womens competitions.
30 referees and touch judges have been named, including recognisable NRL figures such as Gerard Sutton, Grant Atkins, Belinda Sharpe, Adam Gee, Todd Smith and Kasey Badger.
Almost the entire Super League panel has been appointed, as well as Paki Parkinson and Rochelle Tamarua from New Zealand and Ben Casty and Geoffrey Pommes from the Elite One competition in France.
Tamarua has been seen in the NRLW this year, while Casty is part of the international panel of officials and was in charge for last year’s end of season Test match between England and France.
This is the most diverse panel of officials ever to take control of a World Cup, with three women – Sharpe, Badger and Tamarua – plus two from France and New Zealand.