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I’d love to know what is going on inside Sam Burgess’ head at the Rugby League World Cup – if there’s anything going on at all.
His swinging arm that felled Australia’s Sam Thaiday in the tournament opener at Cardiff was a shocker and I thought the judiciary would have handed him a two or even three match penalty.
Not so, for Slammin’ Sam. He got outed for just one game; the RLWC authorities clobbered him with the proverbial feather.
To me, Sam Burgess has become a serious worry, (hopefully) to himself and definitely for his club team, South Sydney.
Like many league followers, I marvelled at his abundant football skills when he first came to the NRL via persuasive words and a fat contract engineered by Rabbitohs’ benefactor, Russell Crowe.
He struck me then as an old-school, English forward: tough, highly skilled, creative, and with a vibrant personality that was destined to become infectious, an asset to the code.
Instead, my opinion on the big forward has gone completely sour. An alarming variety of cheap shots have surfaced in his game including a ‘pretend’ facial, ball tampering and now a reckless and dangerous high shot.
I am pretty sure he is well on the way to becoming one of League’s most despised players and he will certainly wear that tag unless someone has a stern word in his ear – fast.
A rampant ego seems to be central to Sam Burgess’ problems.
He – and all members of his family – have become Channel Nine darlings. Everything the Burgess boys and their mother do becomes feel-good fodder for the NRL’s free-to-air broadcasters.
This guy thinks he can do as he pleases and the consequences will be pretty close to negligible. They have been so far. I ask: is his ‘popularity’ reducing the penalties for his misdemeanours?
I cannot speak for you, but I have grown increasingly tired of it all and it seems to have had a detrimental effect on Sam and his on-field persona.
Does he feel he must prove himself to be the tough-guy, week after week? How on earth have this player’s priorities changed from exhibiting great skills to grubbiness in the space of two seasons?
I can only hope that wicked high shot on Thaiday and the subsequent one-game ban makes this talented footballer take a step back and wonder why his reputation as a top echelon player is plummeting.
But I think it’s all wishful thinking.
More and more, Sam Burgess is displaying the cheap and nasty traits of an athlete whose ego is transcending the physical gifts that taken him so far in the game.
Two years ago, he looked like being one of the truly great English imports to play rugby league in Australia.
At the moment, there is a genuine chance he will wind up with a reputation that belongs with his unsavoury antics: in the gutter.
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