Sam Burgess has opened up about his struggles “under the microscope” in Australia and why he decided to quit his assistant coaching role at the Rabbitohs prematurely.
In a wide-ranging interview with UK paper The Times, Burgess says he didn’t cope well to the public scrunity after his legal issues arose.
In 2020, not long after his retirement from the NRL, domestic violence allegations were levied against Burgess from his ex-wife Phoebe – with those charges dropped due to insufficient evidence.
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Burgess was also fined numerous times by the NRL for a number of incidents during his career as both a player and coach for Souths.
At the time, Burgess called the $30,000 in fines that he copped as being “grossly unfair”.
These included failing a roadside drug test, taking a banned drug and allegedly threatening Roosters centre Billy Smith.
“The back end of my career, all the personal things happening, the pressure does come,” Burgess said.
“You do feel it. Trying to juggle that within the group, that was hard.
“I was bringing pressure into the changing room, being chased, followed. Media scrutiny was through the roof.
“Everything is under the microscope in Australia, heightened, and I didn’t manage it very well at all.”
Burgess’ has clearly taken responsibility for his shortcomings, believing it’s made him a better man, husband and father.
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“I take my lesson. I did not make some great decisions. But essentially it doesn’t change who I am,” he told The Times.
“It will probably shape me to be a much better person in every aspect of my life now.”
“If you can own things, you will deal with them much better. People can’t trip you up.
“I own that time of my life, certainly learnt a lot from it and (have) grown from it. I am not running from it. I accept it. I accept that things weren’t great and learnt a hell of a lot.”
In early August, Burgess was appointed the new head coach of Super League team the Warrington Wolves from 2024, meaning he’d be heading back to his native England.
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Just a couple of weeks later, Burgess found himself in the limelight again after he controversially walked out of the Rabbitohs with just over a month left in the season.
It was reported that Burgess fell out with Rabbitohs head coach Jason Demetriou.
“I don’t want to make any dirty water over there because I love the club, but I just thought a few things weren’t handled well that were detrimental to the culture,” Burgess said.
“So I just stepped away from that.”
Burgess’ head coaching career will begin at 4:30am Sunday, February 18 (AEDT) as the Warrington Wolves kick off their season against Catalans Dragons.
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