I have no particular opinion on the 2D CW series as I’ve only seen it once back when it aired and now it’s not canon I never bothered with it again, but your summations of TCW are mostly the same as what I would conclude.

Quote seems to be broken so…

‘People are going to come into this show wanting to see Mandalore and Maul, so I think it’s really important we get those plotlines running early, and keep their presence felt throughout.’

This seems to be true. Realistically (other than Rex), Ahsoka, Maul, and Mandalore are the elements that TCW really brings to the franchise that are its own and carries the side plots of Rebels and The Mandalorian which makes them, ironically, even more key than the actual ‘Clones’ or ‘War’ parts of TCW in terms of keeping intact as much as possible.