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.