It was enough for the Bunnies to get an early head start and push out to a 22-0 lead at half-time.

Foran said he was proud of the way the club had bounced back after starting the season with four straight losses but said the turnaround came as a result of Trbojevic’s return and created an unhealthy reliance on the star fullback.

Foran said the team was also guilty of inconsistency, with poor losses sprinkled amongst brilliant wins during their run to the top four, and also punctuating their finals series.

Next season, Foran says the Sea Eagles must find ways to produce quality every week to compete with NRL front-runners Melbourne, Penrith and South Sydney.

“It’s just a collective burning as to where we want to get to as a footy side,” he said. “We’ve had those occasional bad drop off games and that was one [the preliminary final loss to the Rabbitohs].

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“When we needed it most and we needed to be on, we had one of those low performances and you can’t afford to have them at this time in the season.”

Despite the disappointing end to the season, Foran said he personally had a successful season – completing the year without an injury cloud hovering over him and playing more than 20 games for the first time since 2014.

“It’s been really refreshing to turn out week in and week out it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to do that,” he said. “It was great to just be able to get through games and contribute.”

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