Wayne Bennett hands Josh Schuster NRL lifeline after ugly $1 million Sea Eagles exit
Schuster has signed a one-year deal with South Sydney.
Incoming Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett has decided to take a risk on Josh Schuster, signing the talented back-rower to a one-year deal. Schuster had been in limbo since accepting a $1 million severance package from the Sea Eagles but will now look to revive his NRL career at Redfern in 2025.
"We think a comeback to the NRL with our club will be just what Josh needs to get his career back on track," Rabbitohs head of football Mark Ellison said in a statement on Wednesday. "We're confident that he can use this second opportunity at NRL level, at a new club with new coaches, new teammates and renewed expectations, to resume his NRL career and achieve his and the team's goals.
"We're looking forward to Josh joining us for the 2025 pre-season as he gets ready for a new start next season in the red and green of South Sydney."
Despite bursting onto the scene as one of the game's hottest prospects in 2020, Schuster never managed to string several strong games together. This patchy form saw him unceremoniously dumped to reserve grade in 2023 before a promising returning to the first team saw him handed a lucrative extension.
There were high hopes around the mercurial talent heading into 2024 but Schuster had a pre-season to forget. He came down with Chickenpox in December and then suffered a fracture in his finger when he returned in the new year. He was also battling a calf strain that saw the forward left out of the Manly travelling party that kicked off the NRL season against South Sydney in Las Vegas.
Schuster then came under fire for not taking training seriously and was shunned from the side. He didn't play a single minute of first-grade football in 2024 before Manly decided to cut him loose in April.
Following being cut the 23-year-old opted to take the rest of the season off to get himself into the best physical and mental shape for an NRL comeback. And he has got just that under Bennett at Souths in 2025.
Wayne Bennett Rabbitohs rebuild begins to take shape
The Schuster signing is the latest acquisition by Bennett, who is set to line up with a Souths starting side vastly different to the one which underperformed in 2024. After a horror campaign, Souths need some serious change and fast and the super coach has already added some serious talent to their 2025 playing stocks.
Bennett has signed off on deals to bring Dolphins duo Euan Aitken and Lachlan Hubner with him to Redfern in 2025. And he has also given the all-clear on signings Gerome Burns, Lewis Dodd (St Helens Saints), Jamie Humphreys (Sea Eagles), and Max McCarthy (Sharks) for next season.
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As well as bringing in some much-needed reinforcements, the Bunnies have also cleared some of their unwanted playing stocks. Veterans Damien Cook (Dragons) and Tom Burgess (Huddersfield) were told to seek pastures new and have signed deals elsewhere. And on Sunday it was announced halfbacks Dean Hawkins and Dion Teaupa, winger Izaac Thompson and forwards Leon Te Hau and Michael Chee-Kam will also be following them out the door.
