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The Burgess effect: The painful truth behind South Sydney's woes

20th April, 2016
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Would the Burgess brothers still be around in 2021? (AAP Image/Action Photographics, Robb Cox)
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20th April, 2016
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They boast a future Immortal in Greg Inglis, the Burgess boys, 2014 premiership-winning coach Michael Maguire and two of the best young halves in the NRL in Adam Reynolds and Luke Keary. So what the hell is wrong with the South Sydney Rabbitohs?

You can blame the injuries if you want. John Sutton is out until Round 17 while Alex Johnston won’t be sighted until at least next week with a hamstring problem. For argument’s sake, we can acknowledge Inglis’ troublesome knees too.

We can discuss the changing landscape of offensive game plans and the Rabbitohs’ obvious lack of evolution as other teams pass them by.

Maybe consider Reynolds has only been back long enough to have a cup of coffee?

They’re all excuses for South Sydney fans, but they’re not the reasons this team find themselves on the edge of a cliff and, with a heavy loss this weekend to the Brisbane Broncos – which is a very real chance – they could find themselves as far down the ladder as 14th.

So do you want to know what’s wrong with Souths?

It all started when Sam Burgess dropped the bombshell he would be leaving the club after the 2014 season to try his hand at rugby union.

Burgess was considered a god to fans and his colleagues. The Englishman helped win the Rabbitohs a premiership with a broken cheekbone and there were nothing but well wishes as he departed for a new ‘adventure’ and a place at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

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But then something unexpected happened. Sam flopped and was hammered for his role in England’s embarrassing World Cup campaign, which saw the home nation banished at the pool stage.

A doubt became a thought, a thought became a whisper and a whisper eventually saw Burgess on his way back to the Rabbitohs after an early exit from his rugby contract.

This is when the dominoes started to fall for Souths.

While the 2014 Clive Churchill Medalist was back in red and green (on more money than he was when he left), others were punted from the club to make way.

Players who had also been there on grand final night 2014 were moved on to find room in the salary cap for Burgess.

Rising star Dylan Walker found a new home at Manly and Chris McQueen joined the Gold Coast Titans. And let’s make it clear that, while Walker was involved in a prescription drug scandal at the time, his exit from Redfern was always about the cap.

Consider too that Walker had already played for the Kangaroos and McQueen had piled up six appearances for Queensland in State of Origin. These were hardworking, valuable squad members. They were mates and part of the fabric of the club.

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Then Burgess decided to spend his summer with his partner at every sun-drenched beach this side of North America and, to add to matters, it was splashed right through the confidential pages of newspapers almost on a daily basis.

All the while, the rest of the Rabbitohs slogged it out in the brutal summer heat and another of Michael Maguire’s tough pre-season regimes.

Only recently, former English rugby coach Stuart Lancaster told the BBC that they didn’t even chase him – Sam Burgess chased them.

“I think there’s a perception that I somehow went on a crusade to try and recruit him from rugby league,” Lancaster said.

“What happened was I went to Australia and watched a game, popping in to see various coaches along the way.

“One of those was Michael Maguire and Sam pulled me on the way out and said: ‘Do you fancy a coffee?’ We had a chat and he said: ‘I want to have a think about playing rugby union, how do I go about doing it?'”

There has to be resentment from some in the way Burgess let this entire thing play out – especially when guys like Walker and McQueen’s livelihoods were on the line.

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The difference this year to 2014 isn’t Sam Burgess.

Sam is still the same player he was.

He still leads bravely and takes on opposition packs – you can’t question his footballing talent.

The difference in 2016 is his teammates aren’t following him the way they once did.

Everything he does has a ripple effect.

Ask those around Redfern Oval and they’ll tell you of a quiet rift between the Burgess Brothers and another group.

Those in the other group are sick of the socialite snaps in the papers, NFL rumours and Russell Crowe’s eagerness to put the Burgess brothers on a pedestal.

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Crowe’s love affair came to boiling point in the off-season when five-eighth Luke Keary abused both Crowe and Burgess before taking the next flight out of Coffs Harbour back to Sydney.

Where there’s smoke there’s fire.

And if you wanted any more proof, just watch the Rabbitohs in 2016.

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