It’s hard to believe it was less than a year ago that Manly were in a grand final qualifier. In 2022 the Sea Eagles were the first club in history to have three players top 20 tries in a season. Tom Trbjoevic won the Dally M and they looked set to improve.

Rivals worked out Manly and Tom Trbojevic early in the season, and Turbo was unable to dominate the opposition as he did in 2022. Jason Saab in particular suffered, and finished the season with seven tries.

Even after Trbojevic was injured, Manly battled on, and were clinging to eighth place with seven rounds to play. After a tough loss to St George-Illawarra, ‘Jerseygate’ completely derailed the Sea Eagles’ season. They wouldn’t win another game.

Talk of a split in the playing group between those that played in women’s round and those that didn’t have been exacerbated this week. Will Des Hasler still be coach in 2023? Will Daly Cherry-Evans, on the verge of captaining Australia after leading Queensland to victory in State of Origin, still be skipper of Manly next year?

That these questions are even being asked indicated Manly are in a crisis that (Northern Eagles era aside) they haven’t seen since 1989.

We’ll have a clearer understanding of how Manly can recover in 2023 in the coming weeks, but they clearly need to hit the reset button. This season ended in major disappointment.

GRADE: D-