We also didn't fix the issue of a decent hooker, edge back rower and leadership.
Agreed. But our starting hooker and edge back rowers have all played in grand finals. They can't be that bad.
Manly had a shithouse run with injuries/suspension at the start of the season.
That's because Manly don't have all their eggs in one basket the way we do.
They have a core that is full of borderline rep players. As a unit they are so strong, they feed off each other, and they can cover for the temporary loss of one or two of them.
None of them star at rep level the way Hayne does, and none of them would be on as much money either.
Here are Manly's top 17, and the number of games they played this year (in 26 rounds):
17 Stewart
23 Williams
24 Lyon
23 Matai
22 Taufua
23 Foran
23 Cherry-Evans
23 Kite
24 Ballin
4 King
21 Watmough
23 Horo
18 Stewart
22 Buhrer
15 Symonds
23 Lawrence
15 Fa'aoso
Here's our top 17:
15 Hayne
20 Sio
4 Tonga
13 Loko
19 Morgan
18 Kelly
15 Sandow
24 Mannah
24 Keating
20 Allgood
8 Smith
23 Maitua
22 Lussick
18 Roberts
24 Paulo
23 Moimoi
17 Terepo
Manly got 343 games out of their top 17 players whereas we got 307 out of ours - nearly two full seasons less than Manly. That's a huge loss considering we already have more weaknesses than Manly across our top 17.
However we have better depth through the rest of our squad. Here is Manly's squad outside their top 17:
Chee-Kam
Chisholm
Cunningham
Farrar
Gagan
Galuvao
Gower
Gutherson
Hasson
Hiku
Lawton
Lemalu
Rose
Sao
Sene-Lefao
Skinner
Tonga
Trbojevic
And here's ours:
Blair
Edwards
Harrison
Lasalo
Mau
Ma'afu
Mullaney
O'Hanlon
Paulo
Penese
Pewhairangi
Pritchard
Radradra
Ryan
Smith
Tanginoa
Toutai
Ualesi
Wiliame
We know our depth is better because we finished ahead of manly in the NSW Cup and NYC, despite having more injuries in our top 17.