The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles have long been one of the NRL's proudest clubs.
Their history of premierships and deep finals campaigns stack up well against most other teams in the competition.
However, 2025 is a candidate for being the most disappointing season in recent club history, given the slew of big names littered throughout their team list and the steps they'd taken under this coaching staff last year.
Their reputation as being an insular 'family-club' has festered throughout the Northern Beaches and set the stage for their current predicament.
Now, with just three games remaining, and the hope of finals a mere mathematical scenario, the question must be asked: Is it time for the Sea Eagles to rebuild from scratch?
The Sporting News examines the three major headaches that have spoiled any faint idea of Manly being a genuine threat to the premiership in 2025.
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Daly Cherry-Evans' departure
The Daly Cherry-Evans contract saga has correlated with an exponential decline in Manly's on-field performance.
Their exit-bound captain has yet to finalise a deal to join the Roosters in 2026, but reports suggest that it remains the most likely conclusion to the situation.
Whilst the initial intention may have been to allow the club to have the longest possible timeframe to seek a replacement, things have clearly deteriorated from that point.
A distraction of this magnitude has the capacity to derail anybody's season, but it's had a particular compounding effect on the Sea Eagles who have had their share of other issues to deal with.
But if the breakdown in relationship between powerbrokers on the Northern Beaches and a 349-game club legend, isn't enough to diagnose a serious issue with the state-of-affairs, it's hard to say what is.
Anthony Seibold's precarious position
The recent speculation reportedly taking place at the club about an internal coup led by former players and notable player managers to oust Anthony Seibold, is the latest of a series of predicaments that the Sea Eagles head coach has had to navigate since taking this role.
His 48 per cent winning record also hasn't done him any favours in quieting the noise from critics who are calling for his job.
Having no known previous affiliations with the Manly club, it was always going to be an up-hill battle for Seibold to win the trust of the Sea Eagles' stakeholders.
Matt Ballin's name being thrown into the ring as Seibold's successor, should come as no-surprise. The current Broncos assistant pulled the maroon and white jumper on 217 times, furthering the tradition of 'in-house' hires.
Despite being contracted until the end of 2027, Seibold seems to be on extremely unstable footing.
As the Sea Eagles approach this crossroads in the club's history, it may be time to re-evaluate the parochial constitution that seems to guide every important decision they make.
Manly's recruitment and retention strategy
The Sea Eagles must be cut some slack for their recruitment and retention woes.
When the Trbojevic brothers currently constitute nearly a fifth of your salary cap, you become extremely dependent on their availability.
At full health, you sign the brothers on long-term deals without blinking, however, Tom's hamstring issues and Jake's repeated head knocks have seen them spend significant time on the sidelines in recent seasons.
With both Tom and Jake set to join the open market come November 1, Manly should be looking to renew their deals at a proportionate discount to the amount of risk they are accepting.
With Jamal Fogarty headed to the Northern Beaches next season, the hope is that his strong kicking game and leadership will help take some weight off of Luke Brooks, who will be allowed to return to a more comfortable role as a genuine five-eighth.
Haumole Olakau'atu, Taniela Paseka and Ethan Bullemor are all locked-up long-term which is a great foundation to build a forward pack around.
However, much of Manly's issues have come from their insistence to sign mercenary forwards as stop-gaps on short-term rental deals.
This can be partially explained by the injury crisis that the club has suffered - the likes of Trbojevic, Olakau'atu, Paseka, Josh Aloiai and Nathan Brown all currently out.
However, as the Panthers have shown, building a sustainable pack involves developing juniors and splashing cash on a few desired recruits; think of the impact of a Scott Sorenson or Kurt Capewell.
Further, the current administration has fallen into the habit of doubling and tripling-down on positions in the open market in which they already have suitable depth, in particular, the outside backs.
Whether Seibold is retained or let go, a reboot of their top-30 and their methods of building it, should be on the cards for 2026.