This stuff about inheriting a mess doesn't stand up.
In 2016, we won the league leaders' shield and made two major finals. We started 2017 on Betfair as the favourites to win the Grand Final. The debate at the start of 2017 was not "we have a weak squad" but was whether we needed a new coach to start us winning, rather than losing Grand Final.
Last year we had a bad season, but the squad that we started this season with was still strong enough that a lot of people on here thought we should be top 4 minimum.
if you want to know what inheriting a mess is like, ask Daryl Powell. He took over a team left at the bottom of the table, and because the club was in deep financial mess he was forced to sell his best player (Chase) and best young player (Clark).