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Somewhere in a cold damp corner of West Yorkshire, there is surely a group of men that still recoil from memories of playing junior rugby league against the Burgess boys of Liversedge.
And after an opening night of the Telstra Premiership, in which South Sydney provided one of the more impressive opening performances in recent times, it could be that those West Yorkshire men will now be joined by a group of Roosters from Bondi.
Collectively they will be clutching at Burgess-induced injuries, both physical and mental.
Sam and George battered their way through a Roosters pack that included the hyped though sadly underwhelming return performance of Sonny Bill Williams.
George scored an impressively powerful solo try that brought the Souths faithful to their feet and a bear hug embrace from his older brother.
Sam was at his bruising and intelligent best, always looking to be a facilitator as well as a metre-gainer. His unique skills with the ball demand opponents’ extra attention which creates plenty of space for halves Adam Reynolds and John Sutton.
Both Brothers ran for identical metres (153) and worked typically hard in defence.
On the back of this dirty work by the Burgess boys and their workaholic pack mates, the halves successfully involved a rampaging Greg Inglis, who looks to have some nasty intentions for all future opponents.
There was even an example of Burgess combinations honed on the windswept moors of Yorkshire, with the brothers briefly demonstrating an innate footballing sense with a quick passing exchange that caught the attention of fans.
And then there was that Burgess collision with the prodigal rugby league son Sonny Bill Williams.
Sam was viewed verbally ‘welcoming’ Sonny Bill back to the league fold, and he followed it up with a physical welcome that saw him literally run over the newest Rooster in the coop.
And so what of the feted return of SBW?
No Australian sport does melodrama, on and off the field, quite like rugby league. And no television broadcaster is willing to exploit it quite like Channel Nine.
But this match was exceptional for the hyperbolic hype surrounding the high profile Roosters recruit.
At the vanguard of this hype was the bizarre ‘voice of SBW’ segments, where the camera would close in on the former All Black and fill us in on what may be going through his mind at the time, using pre-recorded Sonny Bill statements from some earlier time.
It was like The Bold and the Beautiful, sadly minus the emotive facial expressions and soppy music.
SBW will be better for the run, and a lack of hype.
But there would be no such melodrama involved in the performances of the Burgess brothers.
They combined in a public reminiscing session, allowing the NRL and its fans an insight on what it was like growing up and playing together under the grey skies and smoke haze of West Yorkshire.
Northern England’s loss was certainly South Sydney’s gain.
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