Myles was one of the club's marquee signings for 2016 and much was expected after he inked a three-year deal. But the 31-year-old failed to replicate the performances that made him a mainstay of recent Queensland and Australian sides. The former Bulldogs, Roosters and Titans forward made 16 appearances in his first year on the northern beaches and was frank in his appraisal of them.

"Not up to standard," Myles said. "Not up to standard for what this club is known for and what I'm here for. Well below par.

"This year, I'm excited to get into it because of the way things panned out last year."

Asked why he struggled in his first year at Manly, the veteran forward said: "I'm not sure. If I had the magic recipe for it I'd share it with you and probably a couple of other people. I think it goes back to breaking things down to a simpler way.

"I don't think anything goes past running hard and tackling hard. I think I'll be leaning towards that this year."

Myles, who has made 31 appearances for the Maroons and nine for Australia, remains available for further representative selection. But his focus will be on recapturing his best at club level rather than adding to those figures.

"I'm very lucky for what I've been able to achieve [at representative level]," he said.

"For me now, it's about focusing on club footy. I'm not ruling myself in or out of anything, my focus is on Manly.

"I've got a few lawns to mow, try to keep Baz [Manly coach Trent Barrett] happy so I can make the 17."

For the second successive season, Manly has experienced a huge turnover of players. Jamie Lyon, Steve Matai and Brett Stewart have played their last games, with the club hoping for salary-cap dispensation due to injuries to the latter players.

Tim Moltzen, Tom Symonds, Liam Knight and Siosaia Vave have also moved on, to be replaced by a slew of recruits including Blake Green, Jackson Hastings, Curtis Sironen, Shaun Lane, Lloyd Perrett, Brian Kelly, Frank Winterstein, Johnathan Wright and Cameron Cullen.

"There's a lot of new faces, a good energy floating about the last couple of months. It's been good," Myles said.

"There are some old faces there as well. The guys coming in are doing their job, the young back-rowers are doing some good things for us and we've got some good front-rowers coming in as well.

"Those players coming to a club are desperate and want to improve. They want to secure a spot and that brings out the eagerness in the other players. The competition is there, you can feel it at training and in the weights room. I think the boys have attacked the pre-season pretty well and we're looking forward to the season."