Manly showed the resilience required to be a top-four NRL team in Sunday's come-from-behind 28-16 win over the Wests Tigers.
But their attack still has a long way to go, according to coach Trent Barrett.
The Sea Eagles' success from 16-8 down with 25 minutes to play in the second half kept them third on the ladder, but Barrett was less than pleased his team were forced to do it the hard way following a mid-match lapse at Lottoland.
"It was bit if an indifferent game for us," Barrett said.
"I'm extremely happy we got the two points, we never take that for granted.
"But we've got a bit of work to do. We made it very hard on ourselves with some errors and some poor decisions."
After the Sea Eagles shot out to an 8-0 lead, they completed just nine sets between the 15th and 50th minutes, as the Tigers scored three unanswered tries.
In the end though they fought back through late tries to wingers Matthew Wright and Akuila Uate, before lock Jake Trbojevic iced the game with assistance from his brother Tom.
But Barrett knows that performance won't cut it come finals.
"Our attack has been a bit clunky for a couple of weeks to be honest," Barrett said.
"We had the two really wet games against Newcastle and the Warriors.
"And then we weren't in that game last week (against Penrith) and it's sort of been a bit of a flat spot for us."
When Manly were firing though, halfback Daly Cherry-Evans was again superb.
He took his try-assist tally for the season to a career-high 22 with Manly's opening points, and then booted a monstrous 40-20 in the following set to put them on the attack for their second try.
Fullback Tom Trbojevic also had two assists, and finished with 218 metres and two linebreaks as the Manly spine controlled the match when it mattered most.
It was in stark contrast to that of the Tigers. Halfback Luke Brooks scored once following through on his own grubber and set up another off his boot for centre Esan Marsters.
However he failed to take control of the match when it mattered, as he then made two crucial errors at his own end.
"When you're talking end of sets, (Brooks and five-eighth Tuimoala Lolohea) are the ones they have the job to do that," Tigers coach Ivan Cleary said.
"And we're still trying to get the best results in that area consistently."
In further bad news for the Tigers, hooker Jacob Liddle could also be ruled out for the season with a dislocated shoulder.
Manly rake Apisai Koroisau was cleared of any injury after he was taken off late following a hit to his ribs.
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