It's an interesting one.
Neither of them come across as natural captains, but then we don't really have a natural leader at all.
The co-captain thing suggests that Smith will not be on the pitch for 80 mins very much.

Also agree with the comments on Bentley.
He will be used differently next season.
More a middle/13 than a second row.
I think he'll rotate with Smith in games.

He's just done what Rohan tried to do a couple of years ago, but with better execution and actually named the "leadership group". The title of captain matters about as much as the squad numbers do. The leaders will stand up and be heard, no matter what, but obviously BA believes Smith and Handley can deliver his message on the pitch best. Congrats to them both/

From that (admittedly very short) clip they put out, Ash seemed much more comfortable speaking infront of the entire squad.

A good move IMO, a leader in the forwards and the backs.

Wasn't Rohan Smith's change to "no specific captain" at the start of 2023 mostly just a way of getting around Leeming who he didn't rate as a player never mind captain?

The big plus for me is that it’s an indication of less game time for Cam Smith. Arthur is in the best place to judge who the players will respect and listen to so I’ve no strong feelings on the appointments.

I'm not sure bout that, whatever your thoughts on RS he wasn't shy about getting rid of players

My belief is that Smith thought just stripping the captaincy from Leeming and giving it to someone else would cause problems within the squad. So he went with the fudge solution before giving it solely to Cam Smith once Leeming was gone.

Might mean Arthur wants Smith to play shorter minutes with more impact or just seeing how it goes until next year

I think that's the case. Smith is one of the most skillful forwards in the league, those skills are wasted if he's having to make 40+ tackles a game.

Might give O'Connor more time at LF too.

With more forwards we will have the chance to rest and rotate more so Smith might not need to play 80mins every game and top the tackle count.

Great move by the club this no two players are more deserving of leading our team. The argument that Cam doesn't spray the team on the field is so lazy.