Former NRL star Sam Burgess fails roadside drug test: police
Sam Burgess’s Instagram facade has crumbled amid a series of court battles and allegations of domestic violence and drug use.
On the field, he was the hot-shot rugby league player, taking the Rabbitohs to an emotional victory in the 2014 NRL grand final.
Off the field, Sam Burgess’s life seemed equally blessed; married to a beautiful journalist with two young children and celebrated by his celebrity mates.
Burgess was the unrivalled golden boy of the NRL, like a son to Rabbitohs owner Russell Crowe.
He was the snaggle-toothed charmer from Yorkshire who’d nursed his beloved dad through motor neurone disease before bringing his three brothers to Australia for the burst of family freshness that rugby league really needed.
The Burgess brothers even brought beloved matriarch Julie to Sydney, where she became firm friends with Crowe and regularly hosted her strapping boys for weekly bolognese nights, all four of them beaming for Instagram.
“My family is my everything,” Burgess said in 2018 — describing his life of ocean swims, hard training and a midday nap as “simple and fun, which is the way we like to live life”.
Burgess’s seemingly perfect life has collapsed now, the Instagram facade crumbling amid a series of police investigations, court battles and allegations of domestic violence and drug use.
The latest shock to rock the former high-flyer and one-time hero of young league players came on Monday afternoon.
He was on his way to pick up his children, Poppy, 4, and Billy, 2, when he allegedly tested positive to cocaine.
NSW police confirmed the former Rabbitohs player had returned a positive result for cocaine during a random roadside drug test and said in a statement he was driving an unregistered BMW without a licence.
“Officers from the Hume traffic and highway patrol were conducting traffic enforcement duties on the Hume Highway at Braemar when they stopped a BMW X5 and spoke to the driver, a 32-year-old man,” a NSW police spokesman said. “He was subjected to a random roadside drug test before being taken to Southern Highlands police station, where he underwent a secondary oral fluid test. A sample has been sent for further analysis.
“He is due to appear in Moss Vale Local Court on Tuesday, 4th May, 2021.”
Burgess was meant to collect his children at 9am on Monday, The Australian can reveal. It is understood he missed the collection time and a second pick-up at 2pm was arranged, but half an hour before he was due, NSW police pulled him over.
The Hooke family declined to comment yesterday, but friends said Phoebe Burgess was devastated by the thought that, without the random roadside breath-test, her children would have been handed over to a man who allegedly tested positive to cocaine.
It is understood she has been asking for weekly drug tests but Burgess had refused the request.
Burgess did not respond to a request for comment.
Burgess’ life began to crumble back in 2018 when a sexting scandal and an extramarital affair contributed to the breakdown of his marriage. Then a triple-0 call after a heated altercation with father-in-law Mitch Hooke would ultimately lead to a police charge — and conviction — of intimidation.
An expose in The Australian revealed that Burgess had allegedly assaulted his eight-month pregnant wife while on a drug-fuelled bender — a bender that saw Souths chief medical officer, Andrew McDonald allegedly inject him with liquid tranquilliser.
After this incident, The Australian revealed Burgess underwent a secret drug test in an underground carpark where he allegedly tested positive for MDMA and ketamine, with the results said to have been filed under another name.
There was also the revelation that Burgess allegedly paid up to $25,000 a week into betting apps, and allegedly waited outside the home of a rival footballer whom he blamed for exposing the sexting scandal.
The report sparked multiple ongoing investigations by NSW police, the NRL Integrity Unit and the Rabbitohs.
Burgess maintained his innocence, saying the Hooke family, assisted by the media, were out to destroy his credibility. Through a lawyer, he denied The Australian’s report of a partying spree that resulted in a South Sydney club doctor injecting him with liquid valium prescribed in his father-in-law’s name.
When convicted this month of intimidating Mr Hooke, Burgess said he was “confused by the decision” and would appeal.
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