Three straight losses, a key player down and the NRL draw from hell over the next month.
Little wonder Manly coach Trent Barrett was struggling for enthusiasm after his team succumbed 34-14 to the Warriors to suck further life from their play-off hopes.
Barrett was hard-pressed to explain his team’s listless effort through the middle stages when they conceded 34 unanswered points in Christchurch on Saturday.
He cited some unfortunate referee rulings for his team to be 12-8 down at halftime.
It was the errors and poor option-taking of his players that proved fatal after the break as Manly slumped to a ninth loss from 13 games.
“If we’re getting beaten on effort, we’ve got huge issues. But we’re not,” Barrett said.
“We’ve just got to keep working hard and work out why we are coming up with a few of the decisions that we are.
“We just ran out of puff in the end, I suppose, and couldn’t pull them back.”
Barrett’s misery was compounded by the early loss of hooker Api Koroisau to a foot injury that could prove serious.
Koroisau’s absence removed a key cog in Manly’s attack and left them exposed to close raids from Warriors No.9 Isaac Luke.
“Issac Luke tore us to pieces through the middle of the ruck,” Barrett conceded.
“They’ve got a lot of good players and they’re in the four for a reason.”
Combating top teams is about to become a regular gig for Manly.
They face the competition front-running Dragons and Panthers over the next two weeks.
Matches with the Storm and Roosters are followed by another Penrith clash in a draw to dread.