I think experience is being overrated a bit. After a certain point it starts to reach diminishing returns really.
Anyone who has been a top 17 player for 3 years/50ish games is experienced enough. They might still have room to improve. But if they were the best option available for 50+ games then they are both experienced enough and good enough. We have:
Backs... 6/7 are established as above average and more than experienced enough. Only concerns here are injuries effecting recent form.
DWZ - 96 NRL games, 4x finals series, 7 tests for NZ. Due to add captaining NZ and more tests by next season
Blake - 78 NRL games, 2x finals series, 2x minor rep jerseys (fiji and city vs country). Also coming off a breakout season scoring 13 tries in 16 gamed
Whare - 130 NRL games, 3x finals series, 19 tests for NZ
Mansour - 117 NRL games, 4x finals series, 3x Origin appearances, 7 tests for Australia
Maloney - 225 NRL games, 2x GF wins, 1x runner up, 12x Origin appearances, 3x tests for Australia
Cleary - 58 NRL games, 3x finals series, 3x Origin appearances
Pack:
RCG - 91 NRL games, 2x finals series, 1 Origin appearance, 5x tests for Australia
Tamou - 221 NRL games, 1x GF win, 8x finals series, 14x Origin appearances, 12x tests for Australia
Yeo - 108 NRL games, 3x finals series, 1 minor rep jersey (country)
Merrin - 204 NRL games, 1x GF win, 6x finals series, 13x Origin appearances, 7x tests for Australia
JFH - 63x NRL games, 3x finals series, 2x tests for NZ. Adding more this off season
That's 11 players with a very broad variety of experience. But experience isnt the be all end all when you consider Villiiame Kikau was among our best all season while our 3x experienced test props were all disappointing.
More games played doesnt mean much. Merrin was a better player 50 games ago. As were Mansour and Whare. Although they have both had serious injuries that hurt their form.
I think our biggest weakness is easily hooker. Experience is part of the reason, but I don't think either hooker has proven themselves worthy of being a top 17 player as yet. They didnt force their way into the team like some of our other guys with less experience (Dylan Edwards, Villiame Kikau for example). They simply kept getting promoted due to players infront leaving. Katoa made his debut in 2015 due to injuries to Korisau and Segeyaro. 3 years later and he is only our first choice hooker because Wallace had to retire.
Our experienced guys have arguably more question marks over them then inexperienced ones. If we had Whare, Mansour, RCG, Mez, Tamou and Maloney all play at even 90% of their potential we would be almost unrecognizable as a team.
