Sam Burgess is no Sonny Bill Williams

Your comments here aren't objective or based on the form Sam Burgess has brilliantly displayed throughout the 2014 season. SBW has really played in Sam's shadow this season which has been consistently tough, skillful and relentless high standards of football that is above and beyond most forwards. On top of that Sam really possesses leadership skills that lift and drive a winning culture amongst his team mates that made them the bench mark of the league. I saw SBW's brilliance as sporadic this year and lacking consistency. Possibly his mercenary, code hopping, big event seeking ways are not allowing him the time to rekindle his past heady rugby league heights of form we have spectated in previous times. We are all sad to see both players leave the NRL but that aside if Sam does not make it in Union we would be blessed to see him return to League and even more so if it is the NRL. I fail to see why such a talented determined athlete could not make the code switch as he hits the line and offloads constantly in League, all he has to do is fall down when he does it which he may find a challenge. I wish Union would stop poaching our elite players especially those like Sam.

Seems to me most on here are delusional if they think either Williams or Burgess are anywhere near the best ever in their positions. Woodward says Burgess is the best English forward he has seen play rugby league and Sam Tomkins the best back! I couldn't stop laughing and nearly choked. Poor old Scotty Woodward must have only been watching the odd selected game over the last year or so. Zero credibility from a self claimed guru.

Burgess will prove the naysayers wrong. This is why: His attack is relentless, and his ball skills are considerable. He is probably already the best English league forward ever. He has a habit or creating big moments, which is the making of a champion. I have seen him break the line and beat a fullback with pace or a step. His passing game on the edge of the ruck is very classy. I would encourage you to watch how he combines with John Sutton and McQueen on the left side of the ruck. His improvement in passing game over the past two seasons also shows how easy he is to coach, and learn new skills. I hope the English don't get him, he would he an inside centre who could win England the world cup. He would have a similar impact as Folau, and would bring the best out of his outside centre and the English wingers. Those who saw the World Cup semi vs New Zealand will remember it as an unbelievable game, in which he starred. I think it was the same weekend as the Wallabies v Wales epic. We won’t be quite as potent ball runner as Ma Nonu, but he has a greater game sense, better passing game, and a greater will to win. Farrell was a very good player, but lacked penetration as a ball carrier, whereas Burgess is a once in 50 years player. Burgess has light and shade on the edge of the ruck, and can motor through the middle of it. My father who is 76 saw English league legends and forwards Dick Huddart, Vince Karalius and Mal Reilly play. He thinks that Burgess has already eclipsed them in most areas, and he is still very young.

Nailed it, Don. Scotty obviously hasn't been following rugby league for very long. He probably never saw Morley play.

@Don i never said that AB was not proud of any of his ancestry. Just because what someone "identifies" as is not the be all and end of the argument. The test tube defines your race personal opinion does not. You cannot deny your ancestry if the test says so just because you want to. AB was great man but no matter what you or he say he was of truly of mixed race. The science overules the feeling. Are you saying just because AB says he was a proud aboriginal he is not of caucasian ancestey as well? Are you saying aboriginal ancestey takes precedence over all other ancestry? Are you saying identity overides hard scientific evudence? AB was of mixed race. Deny it all you want it is true. AB was a great man who caucasian and indigenious (australoid) races can identify with and love. Check the percentages before you claim who someine belongs to and remember identity us a personal opinion not a scientific proof

well said.

You need to get your hand off it, Scotty. Paid tipsters are as shonky as used car salesman.

What's the point of comparing Sam to Sunny anyway, different player, different reason, different times, etc. I mean, where's the reasonable link here? Just because Ford has said that Sam might play in the centres ... emulating SBW ... mouaha, pleeease!

It's difficult to really include Japanese contracts because the system they have is so unique. In terms of rugby quality it's certainly not on the same page as SANZAR or European domestic/Heineken cup rugby. So it's not good for guys that are still building their careers. From what I can see the highest paid players there are on about $1millionAUS a year or slightly higher, so still massively lower than the $2million figure being banded about. Because of the EPS system Sam would have to play for an Aviva Premiership club to be eligible to play for England. So it's actually best to have a look at what the top flight players in that competition get paid. In a £5million-ish cap the most highly paid players earn between £300k and £350k per year. Which is roughly what Sam is getting at the Souths since his re-negotiation. I'd expect he will have a salary somewhere in that region with Bath. If he then went on to play 10 games for England next year he would recieve a £15k flat-rate match fee per game. If he got a top end £350k contract from Bath and then went on to play in 10 games for England he still would not have earned $1millionAUS.

The top 10 most paid rugby players in the world are in the Top League in Japan.

Been the player who were the best at their position in a year doesn't make you the greatest. At one stage James O'Connor was the best in the world in his position and so did Kurtly Beale, Walter Little, Frank Bunce, Caucau, Neil Back, Mark Mayofler, Tony Underwood, Jeremy Cuscock, Iuean Evans, Noriega, Kearan Crowley and many others.

David Lord is no Richie Benaud, Bill McLaren, David Coleman.......

The biggest RU deal was Matt Giteau's at the Force before the sponsor went belly up a year later. Giteau was signed on $4.5M over 3 years.

Ches, Beetson was proudly Aboriginal. It isn't a "label" anyone else has given him nor is it racist. From very early on he called himself Aboriginal - not mixed race. In his speech accepting the RL Immortal status he said "...I am a proud Australian, a very proud Queenslander .... but I'm also a very proud Aboriginal." His grandfather came from England and married an Aboriginal woman. His father Bill married Marie, an Aboriginal woman of the Gubbi Gubbi people around Buderim who's father was Irish and mother was Aboriginal. Marie was one of the stolen generation and relocated to Cherbourg. Bill Beetson, Arthur's dad, was an Aboriginal elder in the Roma district. When Artie met young Aboriginal fellas in the bush they called him Uncle.

I thought the highest paid union player was Jacque Fourie. Wilkinson might have more money overall, but I thought Fourie's deal was the highest... alledgedly...

Bevan, U are clearly unintelligent. The majority of the bets are line bets which means they are 50/50 and the less favoured team is given a line start. Did u notice a 13.0 win there? That is unheard of. As I said I would love to be your bookie.

They will have to be patient. Maybe give him a food reward every time he gets it right.

Well I played Union as a forward from the age of 5 to the age of 28. I wasn't that good but I did play County, Wasps Youth, semi-proffessional stuff like that. I've been out of the game for a while (a few years) and I honestly think I'd struggle to go back at any level, even a cr 8p level. The game has changed so much, started back in 95 with Kronfeld and his hands in at the tackle area and it turned into an art with people like Pocock and Brussow. - "Jackaling" when to contest, when to roll away in the tackle area has become a fine art. i understand going the gate stuff like that but its an artform. The thing in the back row is its all about instinct, running lines, anticipation.. when to drift blind because you can see the play is going to come back that way, when to aim at midfield or when to corner flag. Rolling mauls etc. okay but its knowing when the scrum half has his hand on the ball at the back of a ruck and I can tackle and when he's got his hands on the ball but I know the ref will blow against me if I tackle him. It's about operating as part of a unit combining with other units as part of a bigger forward pack, and every back row is a different blend. with different responsibilties being a second row being a jumper and running a line out takes alot - in some ways it is simpler than back row or front ro wbut I don't see burgess as a second row anyway. I think that League is the harder sport and the standards are higher but forward play in Union takes a while to understand and develop the instincts for.

well said Tom, why would anyone pay someone who is unproven 2 million, way above the current best players? its not the RL is that big in the UK and he adds much marketing value

Is he? Scott's a professional tipster...