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South Sydney have severed ties immediately with Sam Burgess while fellow assistant coach John Morris has narrowly avoided the same fate after a tumultuous couple of days in the wake of Sunday’s loss to Newcastle.
With the Bunnies board unable to reach a decision on Tuesday night, an official announcement on their future was delayed until Wednesday, with co-owner Russell Crowe consulted before the final call was made.
Burgess’ time at the club ended after the Rabbitohs assistant coach left training early on Wednesday morning.
He was whisked away by his partner outside the club’s training centre prior to their morning session. The England international was forced to walk out of the front doors of their Heffron Park base and front a media scrum.
Burgess indicated he would make a statement in due course but said: “I wish the boys all the well (sic).”
Club chairman Nick Pappas left soon after Burgess and said: “We wish Sam all the best.”
Jason Demetriou. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
Burgess was leaving at the end of the year regardless to take up a head coaching role with Warrington in the Super League, while Morris has been heavily linked with a job at the Wests Tigers on Benji Marshall’s staff.
The Rabbitohs then released a statement saying Burgess had been released from his contract to concentrate on his impending switch to Warrington and the impending birth of his child.
“I’ve made the decision to step away from South Sydney, given the circumstances.,” Burgess was quoted as saying in the statement. “My immediate focus is the upcoming birth of our baby and preparing for my new role at Warrington.”
Burgess’ departure cannot be understated at a critical juncture in Souths’ season. The former prop, who helped the Rabbitohs break their premiership drought in 2014, retains a close bond from his playing days at the club.
His brother Tom trained on Wednesday but Demetriou will now need to get everyone pulling in the same direction with their season on the line. There also appear to be divisions among players over Mitchell getting an easy ride from Demetriou.
Morris looks like he will see out the season after he was at training on Wednesday and the Rabbitohs clarified that he would be working alongside head coach Jason Demetriou and assistant Ben Hornby to prepare the team for next Friday’s showdown with the Roosters.
The situation exploded on Tuesday after reports in the Sydney Morning Herald held that Burgess and Morris had told Demetriou that star players Cody Walker and Latrell Mitchell held too much sway in the club.
The coach had already spoken to the media to deny rumours of a rift in the playing group, telling the SMH that the rumours were a result of their poor form, which has seen the club plummet from top of the ladder to the brink of missing the finals.
“We’re not winning footy games at the moment so the rumour mill is going overdrive,” he said. “Latrell Mitchell was out for 12 weeks so if he was running the show during that time, I don’t know what the problem was there.
“They are two very influential players in a group, but they are part of a group. The only way to answer that stuff is to win footy games. At the moment there is lots of talk. That is because we are not winning.”
The coach was also caught in a controversy after he liked a post on Instagram that was critical of forward Jacob Host and Liam Knight, who has since departed to the Bulldogs.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
The post read: “We had @liam_knight and @hostyyy playing for us tonight. It’s a wonder we didn’t lose by 50 having those clowns pretending to be first graders.”
Demetriou said that he liked it in error and has subsequently apologised to his player. He has gone back to the post to remove the like.
The Bunnies have the bye this weekend, before returning next Friday for a derby against the Roosters, which, if the Tricolours beat the Tigers on Saturday evening, will be a make-or-break clash for both clubs with a spot in the finals on the line.
They will do so without Mitchell, who accepted a one-game suspension after being charged with elbowing Tyson Frizell in the closing stages of Souths’ defeat to Newcastle on Sunday.
“I’m disappointed, not only because of the game (a loss) but also in myself. I have worked really hard to get this stuff out of my game, the brain snaps,” said Mitchell on 9News.
“I’ve tried to mature a lot. I haven’t had an incident since 2021, that incident with Joey Manu. I have worked really hard to get myself back to playing footy and enjoying it and getting that stuff out of it, the grubby stuff.”
Mitchell’s application has been the elephant in the room at the Rabbitohs all season.
Some at the club have raised concerns over his fitness and dedication after missing 10 weeks of the season with a calf injury.
The Kangaroos representative was filmed downing beers on stage with country singer Luke Combs last week, only to turn in an anaemic performance against Newcastle with Souths’ season in the balance.
with AAP