I don't think that's the idea, more that they have to name someone on match day for the formalities and if they name the same person every week for the basic duties it goes away from what he's doing. It's not like Smith will say one match "right lads listen to Leeming this week" and the next listen to myler etc...

All our success came from having a calming, quality leader. Giving someone like Smith captaincy would also elevate their game++
Agree this is a baffling decision……

Agree. Baffling. It all seems a bit all over the place at the moment imo. Makes you wonder if he doesn’t think any one of them are particularly great choices

Coming across that way……

Comes accross as the complete opposite to me, a galvanising move to spread responsibility across the team by having a leadership group. And far from being a bit all over, it seems Smith has more of a sense of direction than we've had in years. I suspect some peoples misgivings are coming off a few friendlies.

Or did I just dream that Smith dragged us from near the bottom of the table to the GF last year?!?

Our success came from having a large group of extremely talented players. Sinfield did a great job, but don't tell me the likes of Peacock, McGuire, Ellis, Burrow etc didn’t have tonnes of input. Whilst Captaincy might elevate some, it can also crush others. As others have pointed out, we did not have a regular Captain when we made our run to the GF last year.

Thats how i see it also.

I'd hazard a guess that if he had a Sinfield in the squad - an obvious leader who plays 80 minutes every week - he'd be captain. Leeming doesn't play 80 minutes and may not be first choice to start games. Our halfbacks are candidates but injury prone. That probably leaves Myler and Martin if you were going for one player.

Of course they had a huge input. But they still needed the calm head and looked to Sinny when the team was in need of inspiration, or losing its head. Last season was a great turnaround, but we are a different team now, with different aspirations…..we’re allowed to question things. I won’t be judging much until we’ve played first 6 games.

Leadership groups aren’t uncommon. I’d say out of the current crop only really Martin strikes me as a single captain like type.

Comparisons to Kev and that group should be avoided on two fronts. Kev was obviously one of a kind and even he was surrounded by other leaders.