I think this is an underestimated point. Very few players come here and improve. Many, many players leave and become better player. There is something seriously wrong with this club.
I don't think that's true at all.
I can give you a very very long list of Tigers players who left and did nothing afterwards, a very long list. And we've often had a good history of players getting better when they arrive, e.g. guys like Marty Taupau, Fa'amanu Brown, first year Stefano, AJ Kepaoa, Harry Grant, Corey Thompson, Chee-Kam, JAC etc.
I think, instead, there are two other issues:
(1) we struggle to get more players getting better all at once - it's not that nobody improves, it's that the whole team does not lift together. E.g. Joffa was tremendous in 2022, hardly spotted so far 2023. Stefano and Laurie great in 2021, rubbish last year. Their better seasons did not coincide. It's the same reason we failed to make the finals even with players like Tedesco and Benji.
(2) It's very hard for a player to improve in a struggling side, and much easier to do so in a team that's doing well. Does anyone truly think Lachlan Ilias would be steering the Tigers towards finals football if he was our halfback, compared to just doing his job at Souths and having much of the pressure removed by Walker or Latrell? Ilias kicked the winning FG last week, but only after Latrell missed his shot and Manly not entirely expecting that Ilias would take a kick.