South Sydney will not release star prop George Burgess to Parramatta
South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett has shot down Parramatta’s attempt to poach George Burgess, declaring the big prop won’t be going anywhere in 2019.
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South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett has shot down Parramatta’s attempt to poach George Burgess, declaring the big prop won’t be going anywhere in 2019.
There was renewed speculation that the giant Englishman had received a revived and extremely lucrative offer from the Eels in recent days, with some talk that a deal could be finalised immediately.
Bennett is privately fuming that his players continue to be linked to rival clubs so close to the start of the new NRL season, after only recently stamping out talk that Alex Johnston was not wanted by the Bunnies.
In the past Bennett has called for tighter restrictions on player contract negotiations, and he believes it is high-time all parties in the game started honouring contracts, for the full term of a deal.
The fact Burgess is contracted at Souths for this season didn’t stop the Eels pursuing the 26-year-old powerhouse.
It’s no secret the Eels want to bolster their forward pack and have a stack of money left in their salary cap following Corey Norman’s exit to St George Illawarra.
It is understood they have in the vicinity of $800,000 still to play with and they want a big prop to come and join new recruit Junior Paulo to give the engine room some added grunt after last year’s forgettable wooden spoon finish.
But they picked the wrong target here.
Bennett has a great relationship with all three of the Burgess brothers through his association with the England Test team and he wants George to stay at the Bunnies long term.
It is understood Bennett only found out about the renewed speculation in recent days but he wasted no time knocking it on the head.
George comes off contract at the end of this season and is currently in negotiations with the club for an extension.
South Sydney released a statement to clarifying where the club stood on the matter.
“George Burgess is contracted to the South Sydney Rabbitohs until the end of the 2019 season and will be playing for the South Sydney Rabbitohs throughout the 2019 season,” it read.
“Neither George Burgess nor his management have requested a release for the remainder of his contract, and George has indicated that he wants to play for the Rabbitohs in 2019.
“Equally, the Rabbitohs are excited to see what George can produce on the field in 2019.”
Burgess returned to some of his best form last season and played a huge part in the Rabbitohs’ charge to the finals series.
Originally published as South Sydney will not release star prop George Burgess to Parramatta
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