| Personal information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 3 July 1984 Thursday Island, Queensland, Australia |
|||||
| Height | 182 cm (6 ft 0 in) | |||||
| Weight | 91 kg (14 st 5 lb) | |||||
| Playing information | ||||||
| Position | Fullback, Wing | |||||
| Club | ||||||
| Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
| 2007–2009 | Manly Sea Eagles | 20 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 32 |
| 2009–2011 | North Queensland | 21 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 32 |
| Total | 41 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 64 | |
| As of 14 June 2011 | ||||||
| Source: NRL Stats, [1] | ||||||
Michael Bani (born 3 July 1984 in Thursday Island, Queensland) is an Indigenous Australian professional rugby league player. He has played for the North Queensland Cowboys and the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in the National Rugby League (NRL). He is a full-back who can also play on the wing.
Bani was a late starter in rugby league, having first attempted to pursue a career in basketball. At the age of 21 he started playing in Queensland club competitions, before being picked up by the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in 2007.[1] He made his NRL debut for Manly that year and made 20 first-grade appearances for the club, scoring eight tries.[2] He joined the North Queensland Cowboys during the 2009 season in a swap that saw Ben Farrar move from the Cowboys to Manly.[3] Bani's contract with the Cowboys expired at the end of the 2011 season.[4]
Bani was named in the Papua New Guinea training squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.[5]