He never really had an X factor about him.
He was on the end of a very very good backline. Personally I think he was always over rated.
He is a solid first grader who in the current market would be good on maybe about 400k a year. But even dogs are going to be paying overs.
His manager has done a good job. Personally I don't see Hopoate getting back to what he was at Manly because dogs lack that X factor in their backline
I think what you mean is Dogs lack x factor in their halves. Their backline is definitely not short of x factor, considering you have the Morris boys and Rona in there.