Sam Burgess credits dad with SAS Australia performance

Retired NRL player Sam Burgess has revealed how his late father has helped to push him to the front of the SAS Australia pack.

Sam Burgesssays he is at the front of the pack on gruelling ­reality show SAS Australia.

The retired NRL star, whose professional career was overshadowed by his personal life, including his marriage break-up, has backed himself in the competition.

“It has been all right. It has been good,” Burgess tells SAS instructors in a segment to play out in tonight’s episode. “I think I am upfront somewhere. I definitely think a few of them are getting a bit tired.”

Burgess, 32, credits his late father, Mark, for his strong work ethic that has helped him stand out in the competition, where celebrities are put through their paces in a rigorous and highly physical SAS selection course.

Sam Burgess on SAS Australia.

Sam Burgess as a young child with his father, Mark.

SAS Australia. Sam Burgess. Pic Jeremy Grieve

Instructor Jason ‘Foxy’ Fox noted Burgess took an “almost military” approach to the course. “My work ethic comes from my dad really, he was just a hard grafter,” Burgess said, describing his ­father as “a really good man, fair and kind” but “tough”.

“I will never forget when we were kids we dug the cellar out of our house where we grew up and he was sweating so much. I said, ‘dad, why are you sweating so much’. And he said, ‘when you do the job properly, you sweat’. I would have only been a young kid then and it has just stuck with me for the rest of my life.

“That is where my work ethic comes from, just do the job properly.”

Burgess’ dad died in 2006, aged 45, after a long-suffering battle with motor neurone disease. Sam was 18 at the time.

“It is a crap disease, it is awful,” Burgess said. “It is a pretty hard disease to see someone that you love so much go through.”

Burgess teared up reflecting on his biggest sadness around his dad’s passing, the fact his father never saw his four boys play rugby league together professionally. “My dad was a pretty amazing man,” Burgess said.

Others still in the Channel 7 reality compe­tition include Jana Pittman, Kerri ­Pottharst, Isabelle Cornish, John Stef­fensen and Jett Kenny.