Clarke has excuses on that but he didn't use them,Hickey and Dykes, I tend to agree he had options with Forrest,Conway plus to use Shankland more.
His passive aggressive approach to games got us this far,qualifying for tournaments is something, getting us out the group is another thing.
In general this group of players should qualify for tournaments that's what Clarke has done taking the next step with or without Clarke is irrelevant,change if we regress for me progress is being there.