They've been given an advance on their central funding

Interesting comment by Arthur regarding Littlewood a player who he seems to rate highly."Ben is my sort of build for a back-rower.He his tall,rangy and once they start to fill out they are hard to tackle especially when they can off load the ball too.
"Bens nearly two metres tall and when he puts on some size he'll be better for it.Certainly he's a player with potential for the club going forward.
With Bentley off contract this year he hardly fits that bill.

For me we should be looking at getting Mik signed up long term before the start of the next season.

Excellent player and pro. Hes only just turned 26 and some seem to forget he was our POTY back to back in 21 & 22.

Mik is not crap.
Nonsense to suggest he is.
Granted, he's had a couple of below par seasons.
But he's struggled with injuries as a result of being flogged to death carrying the pack for the previous 3 years.
A stronger pack and more rotation in the front row will help him get back to the Mik of 2021-2022.
Not totally convinced we have that yet though....

Arthur's comments on Littlewood are interesting. I assume Gannon fits the bill as a big second row as well.

I think we saw last season what role he may have in mind for Bentley - a Victor Radley/Brandon Smith type up the middle. Or it could be that he's more in competition with O'Connor/Ackers. If Arthur thinks we need size its hard to see two of those three on the bench. We might see some very interesting reshuffling including Bentley, and I wouldn't be surprised if Cameron Smith is asked to play very differently as well, even if he keeps the 13 shirt.

I can't see Smith losing the 13 shirt, but I can see him playing less minutes at greater intensity. I may be reading too much into the co-captains thing, but perhaps that's in anticipation of having Smith on the field less.

I've said it before, but I think a big problem with Cam last season was he was in great cardio shape, but he lacks explosive power to really punch through the line or put big shots on in D. I'm hoping they'll change his conditioning to allow more impact.