Sunnybank will enter the 2026 Hospital Cup season under new head coach Rex Tapuai with the club looking to take a step forward after a difficult campaign last year.

The Dragons finished ninth in 2025 with three wins from 16 matches and struggled to close out games despite showing promising signs in patches.

With a renewed focus on fitness, resilience and finishing, Tapuai – who played for Sunnybank when the club last won a premiership in 2011 – is aiming to lift standards and push the Dragons back towards finals contention.

Overview with Rex Tapuai:

“It’s all coming together, and I think the boys are excited about getting out there and playing,” Tapuai told Rugby News.

“There were a couple of big lessons from last year. We needed to be fitter so we could make better decisions under fatigue, and we’ve worked a lot on that.

“And finishing games was probably the biggest thing. We would start well but we just weren’t able to close games out. Part of that was mental, but part of it was physical as well.

“Preseason has been tough, if I’m being honest. We made it very challenging deliberately – we weren’t at the level we wanted to be at last year and I wanted to change that.

“The goal is to finish in the top four. That’s probably everyone’s goal, but we’re trying to keep it realistic.

“If we can finish in the top four at the end of the season, we’ll be pretty happy.”

2025: 9th (3 wins, 13 losses)

Ins: Jack Volavola (Fijian Drua Academy), Brody McLaren (Manly Marlins), Connor Smith (New Zealand)

Outs: Daniel Malum (PNG), Junior Laloifi (season off), Mone Ma’afu (Hong Kong)

What style of rugby will we see from Sunnybank this year?

“We’ll play more of a running game,” Sunnybank’s head coach said.

“We have a run-first mentality in the squad and look to attack first.

“We’ve got a lot of athletic players who enjoy having the ball in hand, so once we recognised that, we knew that was something we wanted to bring out and build into our attack.”

Player(s) to watch:

“Brody McLaren at fullback is one to watch,” Tapuai said.

“He spent time down in Sydney with Manly’s colts program last year and has come back bigger, stronger and faster.

“He’s been really good in the trials, so we’re excited to see what he can do this season.”

Which two teams will play in this year’s grand final?

“I’m hoping we’re one of them,” Tapuai said.

“But it’d be hard to go past Brothers. They’re a great outfit and have been the benchmark for a number of years.”