The Jets went into their final round match against Macquarie needing a win to be any chance of advancing but the men in red went down 50-30.

While 2016 was a much better season for the Jets, who have finished in Group 11’s bottom two for the past five seasons, Thompson admitted it could have been better after seeing his side beat eventual finalists Nyngan, Macquarie and Forbes during the regular season.

“It’s not a successful one but it’s an improvement,” he said.

Thompson was a standout for his side all year while he also captained Group 11 to a win over Group 10 and played for the Western Rams.

After missing a huge chunk of time due to a torn pectoral in recent years Thompson said it was pleasing just to be back out on the field and added he wants to be part of the Jets side going forward.

“I missed the last couple of years through injury and hardly played and it was good to have a year where I only missed three games,” he said.

“It’s been an improvement and if we can keeps the likes of (Daryl) Cubby and ‘Coxy’ (Corey Cox) then we can build on that. I know a couple of boys like Mick Clarke and Lukey Harding might be hanging up the boots…but hopefully in the next couple of years we can keep getting better and put ourselves in a position to play back-to-back finals football.