Ok guys- check this out and do a player by player analysis on JUST the starting 13:-
Brett Stewart...........Karmichael Hunt....Billy Slater........Ben Hornby..........Luke Patten
Michael Robertson....Darius Boyd..........Anthony Quinn..Brett Morris..........Hasem El Masri
Steve Matai.............Justin Hodges........Greg Inglis........Matt Cooper..........Willie Tonga
Steven Bell..............Brent Tate............Matt King..........Wes Naquama......Andrew Amelio
Chris Hicks..............Tame Topou.........Steve Turner.....Luke Macdouggall.....Matt Utai
Jamie Lyon..............Darren Lockyer.....Matt Geyer........Mark Gasnier....Daniel Holdsworth
Matt Orford..............Shayne Perry.......Cooper Cronk....Matt Head............Brent Sherwin
Jason King...............Petro Civeneceva..Antonio Kafusi.......Jason Ryles......Mark O'Meley
Michael Monaghan....Shaun Berrigan.....Cameron Smith..Simon Woolford.....Corey Hughes
Brent Kite................Sam Thaiday..........Adam Blair.........Justin Poore.........Willie Mason
Anthony Watmough...Corey Parker........Ryan Hoffman......Ashton Simms.....Andrew Ryan
Steve Menzies...........Brad Thorn...........Dallas Johnson.....Beau Scott..Sonny Bill Williams
Luke Williamson........Tony Carroll..........Michael Corcker...Ben Creagh..........Reni Matua
I rest my case here. You'd note we have LEAST name players of the squads above. That said, I think we can do just as well regardless. Also, look at the cap like this for Manly in simple terms:-
Cap increase:- $700k
BK gone:- $250k
Leuluai gone:- $150k
Not even including Witt, Stephenson, Cleal, Lennon, Creary, Styles, Tutt, Cherry etc that have left as well.
Less Lyon: $450k
Less:- Hall $70k, Afamsanga $70k
As per above not including less notables.
That leaves $510k to spend elsewhere. There's no wonder we were chasing Creagh, Simpson and co.
