Pre-season Prediction: 9th
Actual Finish: 12th
| 2025 Gains | |||||||||
| Euan Aitken (The Dolphins, 2027), Gerome Burns (2026), Lewis Dodd (St Helens Saints, 2027), Lachlan Hubner (The Dolphins, 2026), Jamie Humphreys (Manly Sea Eagles, 2026), Max McCarthy (2026), Josh Schuster (Manly Sea Eagles, 2025), Nazareth Taua (2025) | |||||||||
| 2025 Losses | |||||||||
| Thomas Burgess (Huddersfield Giants), Damien Cook (St George Illawarra Dragons), Jacob Gagai (Huddersfield Giants), Dean Hawkins (Parramatta Eels), Lachlan Ilias (St George Illawarra Dragons) | |||||||||
| Re-Signed | |||||||||
| Jye Gray (2026), Ben Lovett (2025), Peter Mamouzelos (2027), Shaquai Mitchell (2025), Isaiah Tass (2027) | |||||||||
| Off Contract 2025 | |||||||||
| Tallis Duncan, Thomas Fletcher, Siliva Havili, Jacob Host, Alex Johnston, Ben Lovett, Haizyn Mellars, Shaquai Mitchell, Davvy Moale, Tyrone Munro, Josh Schuster, Cody Walker | |||||||||
| Rumours | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Although they fought hard to defend the crown they won in 2014, the Bunnies never really looked as though they were going to go overly deep into the finals, mainly due to the fact they said goodbye to their superstar forward Sam Burgess.
The return of Burgess, combined with a 32 point win over the Roosters in round one, had Bunnies fans planning their September fixtures early.
Unfortunately for fans of the Redfern-based club, despite some stellar performances, 2016 ended well before the finals and will be remembered for being unmemorable, at least on the field.
Adam Reynolds produced some brilliant footy that saw him finally play for NSW, while Inglis continued to put his name into serious contention for future immortal status, but ultimately the club fell three games short of finals footy and are searching for answers as we head into 2017.
Star Player: Cody Walker
I’d love to know what kind of odds you would have received on Cody Walker being the Bunnies best in 2016 at the beginning of the season given the young back’s superstar teammates.
In 20 NRL games this season Walker managed to score eight tries, assist a further 12 and make an amazing 16 line-breaks.
Despite being shifted around the backline at times, Walker showed no signs of being overawed or uncomfortable and often outshone the lines of Inglis and Johnston.
26-year-old Walker may have burst onto the first-grade scene far later than some, but he now looks as though he’ll be a vital piece of the puzzle for the Bunnies going forward.
Season Highlight: 42-10 win over the Roosters – Round One
The Bunnies may have had a less-than-stellar finish to the season, but the way in which they started their 2016 campaign was as close to perfect as even the biggest of fans of the red and green could have imagined.
A 42-10 victory over arch-rivals the Roosters saw the Bunnies send a serious message that they were back to avenge their early exit in the 2015 finals.
The Roosters simply had no answer to a rampant Bunnies side who ran in eight tries, broke the line seven times and simply were miles and miles ahead of their Sydney-based rivals.
They took the lead inside the opening seven minutes and never looked like being headed from there. For those 80 minutes, Bunnies fans were on top of the world, and rightly so. This was a hammering of massive proportions.
Best Signing: Robbie Farah
Despite all the talk of Farah’s supposed unsettling affect during his later years at the Tigers, most of which I still believe are greatly over-played, he remains an amazing player and one of the NRL’s elite number nines.
With reports that the Tigers will heavily assist the Bunnies in paying the Origin rake in 2017, his signing looks an absolute gem in an otherwise quiet recruitment period.
Farah’s experience and playmaking ability will heavily assist the likes of Walker and Reynolds and should take some pressure off Inglis.
For a moment last week it looked as though Farah’s season may be disrupted by injury, however, the Bunnies have stated it was only a minor scare and he’ll be ready to go.
The Positives:
- Greg Inglis managed to play 20 games for his club side in 2016, and looked brilliant at the end of the season. In 2015 he limped to the end of the season, whereas this season he looked fit and focused even after taking part in the four-nations tournament.
- Damien Cook continued to improve as an NRL first grade footballer. It was no coincidence that the Bunnies looked a far better side as Cook’s influence on the game grew. He really made the number nine role his own toward the end of the season. Unfortunately for Cook he’ll again be relegated to a supporting act, however, should Farah go down, or play Origin, Cook’s star will continue to grow.
- Bryson Goodwin and Hymel Hunt looked like more-than-decent centres when fit. Hopefully, both are back to 100% come the start of the season. Joe Burgess looked like a man possessed after leaving the Roosters and was scoring tries for fun come the end of the season. Unfortunately, he’s headed back to England.
Season Grading: D-
It is very tempting to allocate the Bunnies an “F” grading after they missed the finals by a fair way, however, they were far better than the sides below them that ended with that very grade.
Adam Reynolds looked back toward his 2014 best after an underwhelming 2015 season. Cody Walker came out of absolutely nowhere and had a wow of a season.
The signing of Farah is a genuine future-altering one, and also sees Damien Cook shape as a real attacking, impact weapon off the bench.
There is so much to like about this side, but unfortunately, injuries and inconsistency across the park saw a very capable side underperform in a big way in 2016.
For a side of the Bunnies' recent pedigree, finishing three wins outside of finals footy is just not good enough, but given the circumstances, 2016 was hardly the end of the world for the famous club.