Sam Burgess slams critics of his SAS Australia appearance after medically retiring from NRL

Sam Burgess’ star turn on SAS Australia had raised questions about his medically forced retirement from the NRL, but the Englishman has fired back at the critics.

Sam Burgess has come out swinging in defence of accusations his stunning performance on SAS Australia raises questions about his medically forced NRL retirement.

Burgess, 32, has stunned viewers of the hit reality TV show with his remarkable physical recovery two years after chronic shoulder issues forced him to quit one season into a four-year contract.

It’s led to suggestions that there may have been something dodgy about Burgess’ retirement that ultimately saw his $1 million-a-season wage wiped off South Sydney’s salary cap.

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But the English enforcer has slammed those claims, adamant “there is nothing to hide … there is no salary cap evasion”.

And with that he opened up with his most revealing interview yet about the unbearable pain that led to his shock retirement in 2019.

Sam Burgess has been a star performer on this season’s SAS Australia.

Burgess was also backed up by one of Australia’s top shoulder surgeons, Dr Daniel Biggs, who told News Corp “there was no way” Burgess could have continued playing.

“He needed to retire on medical grounds,” Dr Biggs said, adding the fact Burgess even managed to survive his final season spoke of an incredible pain threshold.

“Most people turn up for treatment far, far earlier than he did.

“Pain is subjective but he would have been in severe pain.

“It was depressingly straightforward from my point of view as a shoulder specialist that there was nothing I could offer him that would allow him to safely continue as a professional footballer.”

‘I WAS FRUSTRATED’

Burgess knew he had a problem just six rounds into the 2019 season.

“I was laying with my daughter in bed putting her to sleep and my entire arm went numb,” Burgess said.

“I couldn’t feel it. I knew it was not normal but I am thinking nerve pain, whatever. I told my doctor and we tried to figure out a way to get me through.”

Initially, the plan was to get Burgess in for a shoulder clean-out after round 12 but that meant he still had to get through six games with a shoulder that was rapidly deteriorating with almost unbearable pain.

He recalls playing against Canberra in round 10 and he gave away five penalties.

“I was frustrated,” he said. “I was getting angry … because I couldn’t be who I normally was. My whole left arm had no power in it.”

Sam Burgess grabs at his shoulder in the preliminary final against the Raiders in 2019. Picture: AAP Image/Lukas Coch

But while he thought he might only miss two games during the State of Origin period, the diagnosis after surgery shocked him and his surgeon.

“It came out that I had septic arthritis in it and my surgeon was devastated,” Burgess said.

“I didn’t know I had it but the pain was unbearable. It is like having battery acid in your joint. So the surgeon said, ‘Sam, you can’t recover from this. I urge you to retire’.

“I said, ‘Don’t say that to anyone else. Keep that between you and me. Let me go back and I will see what I can do’.”

‘I COULDN’T PERFORM’

But after two games back, Burgess knew in his heart that he was a shadow of the player he once was. He continued until the Rabbitohs were knocked out in the preliminary final, but Burgess concedes he was gone long before then.

“I knew I couldn’t perform,” he said. “I was so ineffective.

“I wasn’t worth $1 million anymore. I couldn’t do my job. I didn’t want to tell anyone because I didn’t want to make it an emotional thing.

“Up until I got injured I’d scored seven tries in the first eight rounds or something like that, I was flying. I had so much left in me.

“So it was the last thing I wanted to do, retire.”

Sam Burgess couldn;t shake his shoulder problems. Picture: Brett Costello

‘I GAVE MY HEART’

Burgess said there was the option to get a shoulder replacement which could have potentially extended his career. But even that would have taken him out of the game for 18 months, with no guarantee it would work because of the damage the infection had done.

And what was eating at him just as much was the thought of letting down his teammates while still taking $1 million-a-season out of South Sydney’s salary cap.

“I have my locker next to Cameron Murray,” he said.

“He was my locker buddy and I love him to bits.

“But I don’t know how I could walk back into that change room every day and sit next to Cameron Murray whilst I am getting paid over a $1 million and I can’t help him. I couldn’t be around them knowing I couldn’t be that guy anymore.

“I gave everything. I gave my heart to the game, I really did.”

Sam Burgess was earning $1m a season at the Rabbitohs before he was medically retired. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

But that’s why accusations his retirement was a salary cap rort cut at him.

“I am an open book because there is nothing to hide,” he said. “There is no dodgy deal. There is no salary cap evasion. None of that stuff.

“Everything was clean as a whistle, by the book, because I know that there is consequences if that happens. I am not going to put the club at risk. The team at risk. Myself at risk. You have one of the senior shoulder surgeons in the country (on the record he had to retire).”

SAS ‘NO COMPARISON’ TO NRL

Burgess said he put his hand up to do SAS Australia because it was an opportunity to challenge himself. But he said comparing it to what he did on the footy field is not in the same ballpark.

“On that show, if my shoulder fails me, I only fail myself,” he said.

“The consequences are only on me. Not on 30,000 members paying fees and watching our games. My 25 teammates … all their families.

“I know what I can do in my mind and the show is all about the mind. I can control my mind fairly well.

Sam Burgess put his shoulders to the test in several challenges on SAS Australia. Picture: 7

“Pain is one thing I have learned to manage in my life. But I have learned to manage it a lot more in the last two years than ever before.

“But in terms of carrying a shoulder injury for 14 days on a course when I am not making 40 tackles a game it is a different thing.

“There is just no comparison.”

SAS Australia was filmed over two weeks earlier this year in Capertee Valley, NSW.

‘THE HARDEST THING’

In a perfect world, Burgess would be running out alongside his younger brother Tom in Friday night’s preliminary final showdown when the Bunnies tackle the Manly for a spot in the NRL grand final.

Instead, he is in Thailand working behind the scenes on Russell Crowe’s film Poker Face.

It’s no secret that a lot of professional athletes struggle with their emotions following retirement and Burgess concedes he’s no different.

Sam Burgess is working behind the scenes on Russell Crowe’s new movie in Thailand. Picture: Gregg Porteous

“The hardest thing for me was walking away not on my terms,” he said. “Someone else told me to retire and my body told me to retire, which is hard to prepare for.

“If I had known in 18 months I had to retire I could have planned for that. But it just came so quick.”

And while he wishes he could be running out with Tom and the rest of the Rabbitohs, he’s accepted his job now is to cheer.

“My head is there,” he said. “I am still connected to them emotionally in my mind because I know I would still be there leading that team if my body and my shoulder didn’t stop me.

“But I have gone past that now. It doesn’t break my heart to watch. I am really proud. Don’t get me wrong, I miss it. But that’s life.”