Manly have pinpointed their defence as an area where Tom Trbojevic can lift them again, with teammates adamant he can still get better than his record-breaking 2021.
Trbojevic's stunning year was the story of the NRL, claiming every individual award available to him.
It helped Manly recover from a 0-4 start to make the preliminary finals, with the fullback scoring 28 tries and setting up 31 others in 18 games.
But the Sea Eagles are certain the NRL has still not seen the complete package.
Dylan Walker on Thursday labelled last year as Trbojevic's "new standard", while Sean Keppie and captain Daly Cherry-Evans see more improvement.
"He can (get better)," captain Daly Cherry-Evans warned.
"Any player who keeps playing in the NRL can get better.
"Obviously Tommy has set a ridiculously high standard for himself and he's super-eager to prove that's not a fluke. I'll back him in for that.
"There are going to be things that he's going to be better at this year that aren't going to bring up a nice stat for everyone to talk about.
"But it will make us a better side."
Cherry-Evans is talking about Manly fixing their defence.
The Sea Eagles are already a vastly superior defensive side when Trbojevic plays, letting in 10 less points per game when he plays in the past three years.
But they still conceded more than 20 points per match in 2021, giving up 204 in six games alone against Melbourne, Penrith and South Sydney.
"We just need to have the mentality that it's OK to win 12-10 or something like that, not 32-30," Cherry-Evans said.
"Defensively a fullback is arguably they are the most important area in your defensive line.
"Their positioning, when they are in and out of the line.
"All of those things come with time, working with your coaching staff and learning from previous years.
"Tom is working really hard on things like that. He has made a really big impact on our preseason with defence."
Trbojevic, for his part, has no interest in talking about backing up last season.
"You don't think about it," he told AAP.
"You get asked about it, but it's not something you really talk about.
"All I know is we have a game in two weeks where we start our 2022 campaign."
But he is interested in putting a focus on defence.
"My game and us as a team, definitely," Trbojevic said.
"It's massive defensively at fullback. It's something I have looked at in the pre-season and hopefully something we can put into our performances.
"It's positioning, it's a lot of things. It's getting balance right. But it's not just me, it's everyone.
"That's why we lost a lot of the games we did last year, because we let in too many points."
