Souths and Manly were out of the competition in 2000 & 2001.
For some reason it felt like the competition was cleansed during that period without those 2 pissant clubs running around.
Geographically we probably don’t need Souths but the Roosters and Rabbits rivalry is highly enjoyable and good for the game^.
Without both Manly and North’s there would literally be no team representing the Northern Beaches *and* the entire zone between North Sydney and the central coast, including part of the hills (Pennant Hills etc) and the north west, where AFL has made inroads. That would be lot of real estate with no team. It’s a small loss not having a North Sydney based team but not exactly damaging, as would be the case not having Manly as well.
So yeah, I hate seeing Manly succeed but we need them. Sadly we don’t beat them often enough.
^When us and the Dogs are firing it’s as good, if not better, for the game.