South Sydney star Sam Burgess forced into early retirement
South Sydney have been forced to say farewell to one of their favourite sons and now the Rabbitohs may have to wait months to find out how Sam Burgess’s retirement will affect their salary cap for next season.
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South Sydney boss Shane Richardson has revealed the Rabbitohs might be forced to wait until Christmas to find out if Sam Burgess’s million-dollar salary will be wiped off the Rabbitohs’ cap for next season.
After The Daily Telegraph broke the news that Burgess would be retiring immediately because of a shoulder injury, many rival clubs are now nervously waiting to see how it could impact on their rosters going forward if supercoach Wayne Bennett is left with a war chest to hit the open player market.
Because Burgess’s injury was not pre-existing, that gives the Rabbitohs a strong case for not having his new $1 million salary left as a burden on next year’s salary cap and beyond until the end of 2023.
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Burgess, 30, suffered his shoulder injury playing against the New Zealand Warriors in round five this year, seven months after he had signed his new deal.
Players coming off contract in 2021 will become free agents as of Friday and already star forwards Tyson Frizell, David Fifita and Jai Arrow have been mentioned as possible contenders to fill Burgess’ enormous empty boots.
While all three players don’t come off contract until the end of next season and would be unlikely to be released early from their existing clubs next year, as one prominent player agent told The Daily Telegraph anything can happen in rugby league once one domino falls.
For instance, this year the Rabbitohs ended up signing James Roberts — despite many early denials — to replace Greg Inglis after Roberts found himself on the outer in Brisbane.
“We have obviously spoken to the salary cap auditors about it, we have put in our submissions,” Richardson explained of Burgess’s contract situation. “But we are not going to pre-empt anything.”
LISTEN! Don’t miss Matty Johns’ interview with Sam Burgess on his life and career from earlier this year.
Asked how long he expected it to be before the NRL would hand down a decision, Richardson added: “We should know in the next 60 days. It is a process. We didn’t realise it was all going to be over this quickly and neither did they.
“The NRL have always been good at handling these sort of things and we will just go through the process and see what happens.”
Richardson was adamant no rival player had been formally discussed at this early stage despite the constant speculation.
“We are not going to be talking about who, and we won’t be rushing in to buy anybody,” he said. “Wayne and I have talked it through. We will just sit down now, let the dust settle and once a decision is made by the salary cap auditors then we will make decisions.”
There is a suggestion the Rabbitohs might choose to hold off spending up big next year so they can chase one of the prized recruits like Arrow or Fifita for 2021.
But Bennett is the type of coach who goes into every season not wanting to make up the numbers and he knows that there is no way Souths can lose a player as significant as Burgess and not go backwards unless he is replaced by a top-shelf player.
Bennett handed both Fifita and Arrow their NRL debuts while coach at Brisbane.
Bennett turns 70 on New Year's Day and a Christmas bonus from the NRL relating to Burgess’ salary just might be the perfect present to set the Bunnies up going into next season after their brave top four finish this year.
Burgess’ retirement has left the club without a standout option to take over as captain following the premature retirement of Inglis as well as former skipper John Sutton hanging up his boots.
Australian Test dummy half Damien Cook and local junior Adam Reynolds are the logical contenders for the top job while young gun Cameron Murray is the other possibility, although Bennett would be unlikely to put the 21-year-old in the hot seat this soon.
Asked if he had an opinion on who should be the club’s next captain, Richardson said: “I do but that is not my decision. It is a decision that will be made by the coach. We haven’t discussed it in any way, shape or form.
“Someone is just going to have to step up and we have some great young leaders.
“Whether they are ready for it now or not, we will find out. But Wayne will make that decision.”
Burgess said in a club statement it had been “a fantastic ride” since joining the Rabbitohs in 2010 after being wooed by Hollywood superstar Russell Crowe.
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“This decision was one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make in my life, however the decision was out of my hands essentially,” Burgess said.
“I am no longer able to be myself day in, day out on the training field and consequently the playing field.
“I will not be playing in the NRL next season. My time has come to an end. I’m excited for my next chapter in life whatever that may be.”
While Burgess is currently going through a messy marriage breakdown, Richardson has no doubt the big Englishman plans on staying living in Sydney.
“Sam’s home is in Sydney,” Richardson said. “He just has to get things sorted out and get over this period of time and we will give him as much time as he needs to be able to do that.”
Asked where he thinks Burgess’s working future will end up, Richardson didn’t hesitate: “I think he’s a coach but Sam has obviously done really well in the media as with most things he has done. I have always seen Sam as the most likely to coach but having said that it is up to Sam. He has got so many interesting things he can do in his life.”
SAM BURGESS
Age: 30
Born: Dewsbury, West Yorkshire
NRL
Games: 182 (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
Tries: 44
Premierships: 1
Other: Clive Churchill Medal (2014), World Cup final (2017)
Super League
Games: 88 (Bradford Bulls)
Tries: 17
Premierships: 0
Representative rugby league
Tests: 26 (England, 24, Great Britain, 2)
Tries: 9
NRL All Stars: 1
Rugby union
Games: 21 (Bath)
Tries: 4
International rugby union
Games 5
World Cup appearances: 1
Tries: 0