I imagine the lack of threat out wide is why we've gone for a completely new halfback pairing.
In terms of Fusitu'a it was more around injuries then COVID than any burnout, although its obviously true he hasn't had much rugby in the last two years. The difference between him and pretty much any winger we've had recently is the potential is there if he's physically fit. If he can get to the sort of shape he has been in previously (and at 27 with no obvious long-term problem that should be quite possible) then its just confidence and match practice. Confidence should come if the team set him up right and aim to get him space - it won't come if we chuck him the ball every time we run out of ideas, like Hurrell.
On the NRL prop availability, I don't think anyone is suggesting we should have signed current Origin players. But there was no reason at all we couldn't have had a similar player to Ava last year and this. Signing King last year showed we wanted a prop, but he was the sort of signing you usually expect at the bottom of SL, not a team wanting to compete for trophies. This year we're banking on a 33-year old bulked up second row in Thompson (who hadn't rattled any cages for years before we signed him) to be one of our front rowers. It all suggests that for whatever reason the management haven't seen prop as big a priority as some of us - I'd suggest the evidence from our play off exits in the last two seasons has been pretty conclusive that when its mattered our prop rotation just hasn't been good enough.
