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.

Tall rangy back rower, didn’t we have one of those !
Mik is a decent prop but has played and carried an underweight pack for the last five years, with the look of this pack he can play 20 mins hard and get off for a rest.

Time to get over this, he's gone for over a year now and if you look on the Wigan chat, they wouldnt be bothered if we took him back. He is not the messiah!

Bizarre how much Walters was revered by some, he's gone and hasn't exactly stood out at Wigan

I would have him back tomorrow, not the messiah but entertaining and always tried and was basically the only brightness of a bloody awful season of 2023.

I'd rather have Dupree back, or Mulhearn

Letting Walters go was an error, as was letting Dupree go. As for not doing anything at Wigan he broke his collarbone in preseason. Lets see how he goes next year.

BA has been super impressed by Oledzki in preseason. Crazy to think some don't rate him props who can make 100+ metres on a weekly basis are worth their weight in gold. I will never understand how people can watch us and think the likes of Cam and Mik are an issue.

We didn't let him go.

Okay then you can say that technically. However, the club regretted it as they thought they could low ball him. Regardless Rohan/ club messed up because they went back in with another offer but it was too late.

Tough luck on Walters at Wigan.
Broke his collar bone in a pre season game and was out for months.
When Willie Isa broke/dislocated his ankle Walters would have been the natural replacement.
Being injured they got Nsemba from the reserves.
Once Junior was in the team Walters couldn't hardly get a start.

Vic - my only issue with Oledzki is that he's a bit one-paced. What we need is a pack as a whole which can stand up to big, aggressive opponents - especially early in games, when we've had a tendency to get blown away at times. I expect this is something we'll see next season, as our defensive approach will be very different up the middle.

As for Cam Smith, the problem is what role he plays. There's a good player there, but not as a ball handler in every move. He is much too slow for that. Assuming he can change his fitness to focus on shorter but more dynamic involvement, we could see a far superior version to the Cam Smith who has frankly looked a bit lost at times.

So it's all gone a bit quiet on the recruitment updates for me it makes sense with Blease coming out this week saying recruitment is pretty much done, my source did say to me the club planned for Brodie Croft leaving but they we're bery firm on Croft was only free to leave if the Dragons met our demands so fair play to the club playing hardball with our own players hence why St George signed Illias from the Rabbitohs instead.

Leeds drafted a 3 man shortlist with incase Croft did leave apparently it was between Jackson Hastings, Jayden Sullivan & Anthony Milford but it seems nothing will come of these as Croft is reportedly happy to see his contract out with us.

The Bateman deal I posted a little while ago seems pretty much dead he seems a difficult character to strike a deal with. West Tigers seem struggling to even find out if he wants to stay with them or leave. We are still looking to bring in another forward if the right deal can be struck but Arthur is more than happy with his current roster.

I expect us to announce our squad numbers in next week or two leading upto the boxing day game. I'm gonna say our squad will look like this.
1. L.Miller (OQ)
2. M.Sivo (OQ)
3. H.Newman
4. J.Connor
5. A.Handley
6. B.Croft (OQ)
7. M.Frawley (OQ)
8. M.Oledzki
9. A.Ackers
10. T.Holroyd
11. J.Bentley
12. J.Mcdonnell
13. C.Smith
14. J.O'Connor
15. S.Lisone (OQ)
16. K.Palasia (OQ)
17. C.Jenkins (OQ)
18. M.Gannon
19. J.Sinfield
20. (Free if another forward is signed)
21. A.Edgell
22. T.Nicholson-Watton
23. R.Lumb
24. N.Mccormack
25. R.Hall
26. B.Littlewood
27. T.Warren
28. M.Simpson
29. J.Smith
30. P.Cassell
31. M.Qareqare