Usually at this time of year we list the Chiefs squad, bemoan all the Waikato players and argue that a few more Bay players should have been included. The announcement of the 5 New Zealand Super squads for 2012 contains very few surprises, given that most of the signings have already been announced.

This time around, Steamers players are spread around 4 franchises plus 1 Australian franchise. Only 4 Steamers are included in the Chiefs and one of those moved to the Bay after being signed by the Chiefs. So let's take a look at where our players have ended up - and which players have been excluded altogether.

Chiefs

Brodie Retallick, Tanerau Latimer, Sam Cane, Lelia Masaga

Highlanders

Bronson Murray, Culum Retallick, Chris Noakes

Blues

Luke Braid

Hurricanes

Tristan Moran

Brumbies

Leon Power

So no place for Colin Bourke (!), Phil Burleigh or Toby Arnold who all had superb seasons. Both Chris Noakes and Culum Retallick had to venture down south (or back down south for Noakes) while Tristan Moran finds a place in the Hurricanes.

For the Chiefs, there are almost as many players from the Hurricanes region as from the Chiefs region, coaches Rennie and Coventry appearing to want to work with players they have already coached.