Misguided star Sam Burgess waited at home of rival Billy Smith to exact revenge

Sam Burgess sat outside the home of a footballer who he blamed for exposing a sex scandal, boasting: ‘I will get him when I retire.’

Sam Burgess, right, and Billy Smith during a match in September 2019. Picture: Getty Images

Rugby league superstar Sam Burgess waited outside the home of a rival footballer who he blamed for exposing a sex scandal and discussed wanting to assault him, boasting: “I will get him when I retire.”

The Weekend Australian can reveal Burgess claimed he had sat outside the home of young Roosters player Billy Smith for an hour, waiting for him to emerge, as ­revenge for the misguided belief he leaked a sexting scandal to the media in yet another example of the destructive world of the South Sydney superstar, first exposed by The Australian on Friday.

Revelations that South Sydney covered up Burgess’s alleged drug use, domestic violence and harassment has now led to him standing down from his Fox Sports role and assistant coaching job at the Rabbitohs.

NSW police and the NRL have also launched separate investigations into the allegations published by The Australian relating to Burgess and South Sydney, which include that Burgess physically assaulted his wife, Phoebe, when she was eight months pregnant and that club doctor, Andrew McDonald, injected him with liquid tranquilliser during a drug-­fuelled bender but had prescribed the medication in another name.

South Sydney on Friday had a three-hour board meeting about The Australian’s report. The club released a statement: “The allegations in today’s The Australian are very concerning and the club is treating them with the utmost seriousness.” South Sydney said it welcomed the NRL Integrity Unit’s investigation into the club and Burgess standing down from his role.

Burgess and McDonald have declined to comment.

In further revelations, Burgess allegedly threatened Smith after a game in the tunnel and subsequently discussed wanting to physically assault him, saying 10 years ago he would have “knocked him out cold”.

Burgess made the remarks in text messages sent the day after he pulled Smith’s hair during a game, on September 5, 2019. Earlier this year, Phoebe Burgess provided NSW police with the text messages in relation to intimidation charges police had laid against Burgess after an altercation with her father, Mitch Hooke.

“I told him after the game I know he was involved and I will get him when I retire. He was a scared little boy,” Burgess texted his then wife about Smith at 3.59pm on September 6, 2019.

“To be fair I was happy I didn’t do any more ha. In my mind I wanted to stand a n (sic) his head.”

Burgess continued to speak about what had happened on the field with Smith: “He squealed so I twisted and pulled. More then (sic) he whimpered like a little Pussy. Such a soft f..k.”

Phoebe Burgess texted back: “you’re twisted sometimes.”

And Burgess replied: “Arghh it frustrates me. 10 years ago I would have knocked him out cold.”

Phoebe Burgess replied: “You’re a better example to your son this way. So I’m proud you held back — even slightly.” Burgess texted back: “Slightly — understatement” and said: “You know I’ve been to his house before and parked outside for an hour just wishing I would see him.”

Phoebe replied: “Yes. I know.”

Burgess texted back: “Dats Dewsbury Sam” and said “Haha dad would have waited until we did see him.”

Roosters sources told The Weekend Australian Burgess had approached Smith with an expletive-filled tirade in the tunnel after the September 5 game against the Roosters, saying he would “get him”. The hair-pulling incident was captured in dramatic footage, with the matter going to the ­judiciary and leading to a one-week ban for Burgess.

Burgess felt it was too harsh.

“In the context of the game, there were four or five blokes knocked out, 50 stitches put into people’s heads after a game,’’ Burgess said of the punishment. “Then someone sits in front of the computer on Friday and that’s what they pick up?

“It says it all. I’m disappointed.”

Spark for hate

The sexting scandal of 2018 — where a woman complained to Souths that Burgess had exposed himself to her in a video call — was the genesis of Burgess’ hatred of Smith. Smith had a connection to the woman, who lodged a complaint to the Rabbitohs.

The NRL Integrity Unit investigated Burgess and exonerated him of one of the many scandals that ultimately contributed to his destructive lifestyle.

But NRL investigators examining the complaint entertained Burgess’s allegations that Smith may have been behind the media leak. He was called into the NRL Integrity Unit for an interrogation, with investigators even examining his mobile phone.

The meeting took place in the Roosters’ office and Smith was accompanied by his father, along with the all-powerful Roosters boss Nick Politis, in a show of support. In the meeting, Smith told the NRL Integrity Unit boss Karyn Murphy of his innocence.

“Here’s my phone, take it … if you think I’ve done something,” Smith said in the meeting.

As one highly ranked Roosters club man observed; “It was a set-up to deflect away from his (Burgess’s) behaviour … and he walked away looking lilywhite in the end.”

While Smith was entirely exonerated of any involvement in the leaking of the scandal, Burgess still appeared to blame him, holding onto his resentment for a full year.

The events that sparked the sexting scandal began on May 26, 2018, when Burgess was partying with his teammates in Auckland, New Zealand, after beating the Warriors 30 to 10 at Mount Smart stadium. A 23-year old Sydney student and wellness advocate, whom The Weekend Australian has chosen not to name, sent Burgess a message over Instagram.

According to her account to the club later, she was not looking for attention but was alerting him to a fake account of his that had been set up. The correspondence led to a group video call, with several players flashing their buttocks at her. After the group call ended, Burgess had another personal call with the woman from his hotel bed. During this call, the woman took a screenshot of an image of the married Burgess, the father-of-one with another on the way, exposing his penis.

She would later say she felt violated and disgusted by the online interaction. She lodged a written complaint with South Sydney about Burgess’s behaviour.

The club’s football operations manager, Brock Schafer, received the email on June 1, with the assurance it would be treated seriously.

Subsequent follow-up emails sent by the young woman were then directed to a junk folder as the email address was not recognised and the IT system tagged them as spam. When her complaint had not been addressed four months later, she contacted The Daily Telegraph about the club’s cover-up of the sexual harassment, with the story running on the front page on September 14.

The newspaper named Burgess as the player at the centre of the scandal a day later.

Burgess had in early September signed a multi-million-dollar deal with the Rabbitohs until 2023.

The scandal rocked the Rabbitohs on the eve of their preliminary final and damaged Burgess’s reputation as a devoted family man.

The club and the NRL launched a joint “independent” investigation into the episode, run by a panel including Souths CEO, Blake Solly and chair Nick Pappas.

Behind the scenes, the Burgess PR machine, led by lawyer Chris Murphy, appeared confident the NRL would not pursue Burgess over the matter. In documents obtained by The Australian dated September 20, 2018, Mr Murphy assures the Burgess family the scandal will soon go away, saying his interpretation was that there would be no adverse finding.

Mr Murphy describes the woman’s behaviour as “slutty honey­potting” and claims Burgess was “hunted” by fans.

“It is obvious the NRL is letting it die this way,” he said.

“The woman won’t speak to them and somehow I think they are having trouble tracking down the Scots boys, Smith … whoever.

“(Todd) Greenberg was very firm about not saying anything adverse about anyone and I read that as his way of softening up for saying they can’t resolve anything adverse on what they have ie the interviewed footballers’ version of her slutty honeypotting. These camp following twisted fans are a real nuisance. I get them with all celebrities and Sam as a sportsman is hunted just the same way.”

Revelation of the affair

The Roosters galvanised internally in the wake of the scandal, despite Burgess and Souths trying and failing to draw them into the sexting saga. The Rabbitohs lost the preliminary final on September 22 against the Roosters.

Phoebe Burgess put on a brave face to support her husband by attending that crucial preliminary final, just a day after Burgess had been cleared of wrongdoing by the NRL. Accompanied by her parents and daughter Poppy, Mrs Burgess was invited to sit in Russell Crowe’s box, alongside Chris Murphy and celebrity accountant Anthony Bell, a member of the Souths board.

Witnesses recalled observing a heavily pregnant Phoebe being heckled by crowd members, saying things like: “Do you want to FaceTime Mrs Burgess?”

After the defeat, Sam Burgess didn’t come home for two days.

With the pressure of the sexting scandal weighing on her, Phoebe was admitted to North Shore Private Hospital on September 23, 28 weeks pregnant, when her baby appeared to stop moving.

Burgess was still out partying. Phoebe Burgess texted Crowe as to her husband’s whereabouts on September 24.

Phoebe Burgess was still reeling from the public humiliation of her husband’s involvement in the sexting scandal, and her pregnancy scare, when a far more devastating revelation emerged.

On September 27, just four days after she was admitted to hospital, Phoebe Burgess learnt her husband had engaged in an extramarital affair with a Melbourne woman.

Chris Murphy rang Burgess to say Herald Sun journalist Stephen Drill had interviewed the woman and planned to publish a story that would divulge the details of their affair that had begun around November, 2017.

Burgess was left with no option but to confess to his wife at their family home that he had had a sexual affair while in Melbourne captaining England in the Rugby League World Cup.

All the while, Phoebe was solo-parenting their eight-month old daughter, Poppy, and flying around the country with her parents to support Burgess’s World Cup campaign. Apologising through tears, Burgess described the affair to her as “pure filth” and reiterated how much he loved her and their family.

A close friend recalled how a distraught Phoebe battled to fight back tears because Poppy was in the room: “She was hyperventilating. She didn’t want her daughter to see her breakdown. She was lying on the bed wailing. It broke her. She was in pain.”

Again, the Rabbitohs machine swung into action.

The following day, September 28, Crowe organised a plane to fly Burgess, Phoebe and Poppy from Bankstown Airport to his farm in Nana Glen in northern NSW, in an attempt to help Burgess keep his family together.

A friend of Burgess’s said Crowe was supportive of Phoebe and tried to help Burgess understand what he stood to lose.

Burgess made the decision not to take up playing opportunities for the off-season in England, although he publicly blamed a shoulder injury on the decision.

Saving his marriage and dealing with the multiple crises in his private life was a large part of the reason. The story about Burgess’ infidelity never made it to print and the affair remained a secret to all but those closest to Phoebe and Sam.

It was yet another buried scandal, with Burgess managing to maintain the outward appearance that his life was in order.