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In the words that are always the worst to hear, whether coming from parents, spouses or teachers: “Sam Burgess, I’m not angry… just disappointed.”
Full disclosure. For the better part of my life I have played rugby union, but I also love rugby league. This isn’t a rugby versus league article. It is the romantic sports lover in me wishing Burgess had stayed in rugby.
At the end of the England’s doomed campaign Burgess was written off by all and sundry. Many thought he’d been given an unfair, rails run into the team. Many blamed him (wrongly) for the defeats suffered at the hands of Australia and Wales.
Many saw him as money not very well spent and a marketing exercise. Could there have been a better first chapter in the Burgess rugby story? I don’t think so.
For that first chapter could have set up a story that everyone truly loves in sport. The underdog taking it to the doubters. The man or woman doing what they said couldn’t be done. If Rocky was always the best and didn’t have to overcome, would we have watched?
If Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Indians had been top of the table and expected to beat the star-studded Yankees, would we really have jumped off the couch as the commentator screamed “The Indians win it, the Indians win it, oh my God the Indians win it!”.
If Rudy Ruettiger was the starter for Notre Dame, on a scholarship because of his amazing athleticism, would his first time playing in his final ever match been enough to make grown men cry on every watch since 1993? If Michelle Payne was expected to win that Melbourne Cup because she had won many Group 1s on favourites in the lead-up, would it have been quite so amazing?
Burgess was inspirational in the grand final of 2014, but that’s done now and that’s his legacy moment in rugby league. Trying to recapture that by heading to where it is easy for him, just doesn’t capture the imagination or pull the heart strings, particularly when another 2014 hero, Dylan Walker, had to get punted for the return to happen.
Alternatively, he could have stayed. His first chapter set up an incredible finish to the story. A story where he could have, as his coach put it, “rolled up the sleeves and become the player I thought he could be”. That’s the story that goosebumps.
Burgess had the chance to silence the doubters. He had the chance to become an all-time great in not just rugby league, but union as well. It wouldn’t have happened immediately. It wouldn’t have happened without a great deal of hard work and self-doubt. It may not have happened at all, but that’s what makes the great stories, great.
Truth is, as his coach also said, “he didn’t have to stomach for the fight”. I for one, simply as a sports fan and fan of the underdog, would have loved Burgess to pop up at the next World Cup. If we can check my desire to have the Wallabies win everything, imagine him giving a proverbial two-finger salute to all those who doubted him as his years of grind paid off for an England win.
Burgess himself didn’t like the fact he wouldn’t immediately walk back into the England team in a new position, saying he didn’t want to invest the 18 months it might take to crack it back into the squad as blindside flanker. He stated that he never hit the physical limits in union that he did in league, but to be fair, Burgess, making tackles is more tiring than missing them.
Burgess stated that time is short as a professional sports person so he didn’t want to waste it not playing at the highest level. Problem being, while the State of Origin is being played, the highest level, he’ll be playing in a quarter-full stadium somewhere against the rest, not the best.
So now he’ll go back to league and will continue to be awesome at it. Continue to dominate it. Continue to be the best in the game and I’ll watch in awe. However, it’s not what captivates.
We’ll be in awe of his skill, probably not as much in awe of his courage and fight. He’s won that admiration in league already. The fight was in rugby, and he didn’t have the stomach for it. It would have been hard, and he chose easy.
My hopes now lie with Jarryd Hayne and Ellyse Perry. These stories have potential. These first chapters are setting up something great. Stories that can’t be written in the comfort zone of easy choices.
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