George Burgess swore on his kids’ lives that his eye gouge of Robbie Farah wasn’t intentional, but was still given a nine-game NRL ban.
Burgess will miss the rest of the NRL regular season after being handed a nine-game ban for his eye gouge last Thursday night.
The three-man panel of Bob Lindner, Mal Cochrane and Dallas Johnson took 30 minutes to give their verdict in a hearing that lasted almost two hours.
Flanked by defence counsel James McLeod and Rabbitohs football manager Mark Ellison, a remorseful Burgess admitted being deeply hurt by the footage that clearly showed his hand pressing around the eye region of Wests Tigers opponent Robbie Farah.
On several occasions, Burgess caught his emotion before answering questions, and towards the end of his grilling, stopped watching the replays.
“I’ve been pretty upset. My career is probably in the balance. What I’ve done looks pretty disgraceful on the footage there. It’s a shame really,” Burgess said.
“I’m definitely going to change the way I play. I’m going to be a lot more cautious.”
However he rejected any accusation that the play was deliberate, insisting he was completely unaware of where his fingers were.
“My hands ended up in a dodgy place. I wasn’t thinking about it at the time. I was sort of in auto-pilot. I’m angry with myself about the situation,” Burgess said.
“Towards the end I realised I might have been on his face. I didn’t realise in the tackle I had contact with his eye. It was only until I saw the footage did I realise.”
He later said: “Things are going a million miles an hour. I swear on my kids’ lives I didn’t know I had my hands in his eyes.”
NRL counsel Peter McGrath attempted to draw an admission from Burgess at least a dozen times that the gouge was deliberate.
He showed the panel another two pieces of evidence, including Burgess’ eye gouge of Dallin Watene-Zelezniak last year that resulted in a four-game ban.
The third footage was of Canberra forward Hudson Young, who was suspended for a grade-three eye gouge earlier this year and was banned for five games.
McGrath asked the panel to consider a penalty between 800-1000 points, while McLeod claimed the incident was no worse than Young’s.
Together with Burgess’ show of guilt, he asked for 500-600 points.
Ultimately the suspension, which included the loading from last year’s incident, amounted to a nine-game ban – the NRL’s largest in seven years.
With just nine games left in the regular season, Burgess, who is without a deal for next year, can only return should Souths make the finals.
“It’s a tragedy for George and his family and the whole situation that’s come up,” Rabbitohs general manager Shane Richardson said after the hearing.
“I want to say this though: George is a loving father, a brother, and a son. And at South Sydney he’s nothing but an ornament to the club all the way through.
“I don’t think this should ever define what George Burgess is about in any way, shape or form.”
Farkurnell
Guest
Ricoh speak with forked tongue .He wants to keep the other Burgi onside. Big payout if he loses the family
Farkurnell
Guest
Steve, for Souths sake I hope this lesson seeps into his brothers,who have been skating on thin ice for some time.Sam’s got a lot of form down at the judiciary,1 more slip and it could be curtains for him too.
Big Daddy
Guest
Richardson is a joke. Always was. Always will be.
steveng
Roar Rookie
I'm not defending the undefendable but, 9 weeks is fair enough. I'm glad that George gave his reason as they do sound legit, now and if we look at that tackle, George was blind sided with players on top of Farah and had no way of knowing where his hand was. I believe George and what he said and that he rejects profusely that "any accusation that the play was deliberate, insisting he was completely unaware of where his fingers were. “My hands ended up in a dodgy place. I wasn’t thinking about it at the time. I was sort of in auto-pilot. I’m angry with myself about the situation,” after all, it was right on the try line and things were going pretty fast! In my opinion and being a Bunnies supporter, these things can happen but, its not the worst thing that I've seen in the NRL! Then we have the Sims 1 game suspension fiasco (for a nothing tackle) that is an absolute and disgusting adjudication, as it shows how inconsistent the NRL judiciary is, it can't be taken seriously, lets see what will ever happen if a Qld player was before them and a series depended on it and what ruling they would hand down???
Censored Often
Roar Rookie
Maguire is a QLDer, Beattie is a QLDer....
Censored Often
Roar Rookie
Got off lightly. Who knows why....
BA Sports
Roar Guru
But he is an ornament to the club according to Richardson. How could they possibly let him go?!
Nat
Roar Guru
The two (or 3) are not comparable. If Moose had got a week for Munster, fair enough but because it was dumb not dangerous. For Walker, that's a far more dangerous precedent. His hand may have come across his face while making the tackle, which happens 50x every game but by no means was there any poking or pressure. The best evidence is the victim and Walker didn't respond, react or complain at all. George was knuckle deep with no other contribution to the tackle but his hand on the face.
Nat
Roar Guru
Did he really "swear on his kids lives"? That's not a throw away line or am I too old (or old fashioned) to take that with a proverbial grain of salt? Of course he's remorseful, but it's for his career not for Robbie. When your only contribution to the tackle was blindly trying to find his face with with your hand, you deserve to be sat out. The problem is another club will pick him up at half price and he'll play to that value. Until that time, go wrap your kids in cotton wool George so karma doesn't find them instead of you.
Con Scortis
Roar Guru
As for McGuire, I have no doubt he'll do it again, as he's a recidivist (Tim Gore's second favourite word!!). Hopefully a precedent has been sent and McGuire gets a lengthy suspension when he inevitably does it again - but I won't be holding my breath.
Con Scortis
Roar Guru
I was expecting 12 weeks as it looked deliberate to me, so George can count himself lucky. 12 weeks would have been more reasonable given our game's historical abhorrence to eye gouges and the need to send a clear message. I must admit I also hate facials and how you often see a tackler pushing a players (prone) head into the ground as the tackler gets to his feet. If a player does either of those things and "accidently" pokes a player in the eye, they should also cop a lengthy ban. As for Georgie Boy, as I have said before, I don't think he'll be selected for Souths again this season (during the finals) and will be released at the end of the season.
Dutski
Roar Guru
“My career is probably in the balance”. Boo hoo. And what about an action that has the potential to blind someone for life. How about their career and their post match career? Tell your story walking pal.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Sims guilty too...
Superspud
Roar Rookie
I think the 9 weeks comes from the prosecution asking for 12 and the defense asking for 6.
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
He should have feared for his career. It should have been over. And as for Richardson calling him an ornament to the club? Multiple suspensions for eye-gouging; any club I chose to support would hopefully look for a better ornament.
BA Sports
Roar Guru
What a flog Richardson is?! I look forward to Souths announcing tomorrow that they are extending the contract of this “ornament to the club” for $800k a year...
Red Rob
Roar Rookie
Yeah I don’t know what the ‘right’ number is but I’m surprised it’s only 9.
Succhi
Roar Rookie
I think that was about right, although I’m still baffled how Maquire gets off for 2 offences?
farkurnell
Guest
Now the judicary have drawn a line in the sand. Over to the Refs/Bunker ...are you gunna man up and send a player off for foul play!!!
Matt
Guest
9 weeks just isn't enough. With his history, should be 12 months.