New captain Daly Cherry-Evans admits Manly used the excuses afforded to them for their poor season last year, but won't be doing so under his watch.
A massive injury list, the introduction of rookie coach Trent Barrett and the club being linked to the drawn-out betting scandal took its toll as the Sea Eagles fell to their worst finish since 2004.
"We definitely had a lot of excuses and reasons to not play well last year and we probably bought into them, myself included," Cherry-Evans said on Tuesday.
"This year I feel as though the playing group won't give themselves an opportunity or excuse to lay down. I think that's going to be a great trait of ours this year."
It was the second straight season Manly had missed out on finals football, leaving a sour taste in the mouth of arguably the club's most high-profile star.
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Cherry-Evans revealed he was personally pained by last year's lack of success and was driven to ensure the Sea Eagles don't miss the finals for a third consecutive season.
"It definitely was a lot harder to watch the finals series last year. To be honest, I didn't watch too much of the finals series because it really did hurt," he said.
"I'm looking forward to this year, to hopefully put me back on the map."
The 28-year-old, who led the Sea Eagles to a perfect two wins from two trial games in the pre-season, said he was still shocked to be named skipper this year.
He had expected either Jake Trbojevic or former teammate Jamie Buhrer to assume the captaincy after both deputised for Jamie Lyon when he was injured in 2016.
"I understood that I would've been in contention, but to get it I was definitely surprised, just purely based on the amount of good leaders we have," Cherry-Evans said.
"Obviously that leadership role wasn't given to me last year. I wasn't expecting that to change, but it has and it's an opportunity for me to show my leadership skills."
Cherry-Evans replaces the retired Lyon, who led the club to two premierships during his 224 games with the Sea Eagles.
The Sea Eagles open their season against Parramatta on March 5.
