Mad Jock raises an interesting point.
In fact one of the main requests we have from cadets is for more hand flying. In my experience they have few problems on this score. A wider problem in the industry (and speaking from the perspective of 20,000 hours of this type of flying) is the global prevalance of "automation complacency" or "magenta line flying" call it what you will. I cannot pretend that my manual skills set is anything like as sharp as it might have been in the days flying the 707 or the turbprops and piston aircraft that preceded that early jet aircraft handling.
The reality of jet airliner flying in the second decade of the twenty first century is "automation" and "magenta line." That is always (and with the best will in the world) going to comprise over 90% of an airline pilots operation. Basic flying skills do become rusty and need to be practiced wherever feasible. That practice needs to be more than a couple of "raw data" approaches on the bi-annual simulator checks.
There is a focused importance on the need to recognise the levels of automation and when to switch between them. There is a focused importance on including manual flying as a part of the routine operation. It may be very de rigeuer to refer to cadets as the "children of the magenta line" but in fact it is the senior, very experienced pilots, like me, who are the main sinners in this respect.
The idea that 1000 hours of instructing, or 250 hours of "flying in all types of weather" somehow sets you up for a life as an airline pilot in a way that cadet entry never could, is frankly ludicrous. Even if that were just my opinion, the reality of those that have come into airline flying from just this sort of background simply doesn't bear that out.