You do not need 17 superstars to win a premiership, there will be average players in the team - but there is a significant difference between an average player and a liability. Those two are not average - they are in fact liabilities that detract from the rest of the team.
I think Harper and Parker are c.60% of the current issues we have. It’s incredibly difficult for our top players to perform, and remain motivated, when they have centres in Parker and Harper continuously leaking line breaks and subsequent points. NRL is such a momentum game - our top players burnt so much energy in defence during first 15 minutes of the game yesterday because of the defensive issues created by those two. You also have other players having to overcompensate because they have so little confidence in those two, creating further holes in the defence.
Perhaps a boat is a good analogy - regardless of how good a ship is (ie. the other 15 players), if a ship has two holes it will sink, or it will at least occupy the time of other people who are constantly trying to plug those holes.