‘Was he right?’: Messy Burgess saga resurfaces amid fears of ‘deeper’ Souths issues

The sudden exit of Sam Burgess from South Sydney was one of the most controversial stories of the 2023 season, and after the club’s 0-2 start to the year and subsequent axing of halfback Lachlan Ilias, speculation around the messy fallout has resurfaced.

Club legend Burgess left his role as an assistant coach after a falling out with Jason Demetriou amid reported concerns the head coach wasn’t tough enough on superstar duo Cody Walker and Latrell Mitchell.

The saga, and the fact Souths won four of their last 13 games to miss the top eight in 2023, meant few clubs and coaches if any entered this season under more pressure than the Rabbitohs and Demetriou.

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That concerning patch has now extended to four wins from their last 15 after the Rabbitohs dropped their first two games of the season. It has forced Demetriou to make a drastic change in dropping Ilias, and promoting reigning NSW Cup player of the year Dean Hawkins.

Is South Sydney’s halfback play the real issue here though? Paul Kent certainly doesn’t think so, believing there’s a much “deeper problem” at the Rabbitohs, and one that could have been envisaged after the Burgess saga played out last season.

“Dean Hawkins who is coming in, by all counts he’s very talented. My point is if Hawkins comes in and the same players who took control off Lachlan Ilias, take control off him, nothing changes,” Kent said on Monday night’s episode of NRL 360.

“That’s the issue, let’s peel back this halfback situation at the moment and try to get to this deeper problem as to what’s wrong with Souths which nobody at Souths seems willing to do, Sam Burgess was willing to speak up about it last year and he got rissoled, he’s now over at Warrington.”

As Kent puts it, Burgess’ “willingness” to voice his concerns ended in his departure from the club. But it now appears those concerns were justified.

Walker has been ordinary to start the season, and while Mitchell’s form has been solid enough, the superstar fullback has created more headlines for his actions off field, including an R-rated tirade on radio after the Broncos loss.

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NRL 360 host Braith Anasta bluntly asked Kent on Monday if “Sam Burgess was right”.

“Well it appears so. Without being involved in all the intimate details, what came out about what Sam’s concerns were have proved fruitful and they’ve also not been addressed,” Kent replied.

“Obviously Sam suggested there were issues and it looks as if those issues haven’t gone away, so it looks like Sam has a point,” journalist Brent Read added.

“But it can be fixed. If they win against the Roosters on Friday night, it takes the heat off for a week.”

Channel Nine reporter Danny Weidler weighed in on the matter Tuesday on the Big Sports Breakfast, saying that based on what has played out this season, Burgess clearly “had a right” to feel the way he did.

“We know the outward pressure on Jason Demetriou. He knows it as well after the whole Sam Burgess situation,” Weidler said.

“That in the background is putting a lot of pressure on the entire club when a legend makes the claim that certain people are given preferential treatment.

“He had a right to have a feeling about the way things are going and a lot of people can look back to that moment and ask, ‘was Sam right?’, and that’s what we are going to find out.

“I’m not saying anything that Souths management doesn’t know. They know all this. They knew from the moment it all went down, they were going to be really harshly judged this year.”

Burgess is now the head coach of Super League side Warrington Wolves and so far, things are looking pretty rosy for the former England international.

Burgess has the Wolves firing, with the club top of the table after five rounds thanks to four wins and just one loss.

There’s a long season still to play out, but just five games into his head coaching career, it’s clear Burgess is pretty good at the caper.

All the more ammunition for Souths fan to wonder whether the club kept the right coach.

Of course, there’s plenty to play out this season, and the Bunnies could unsurprisingly get things back on track.

But if he doesn’t, Demetriou will either be fired or at the very least, deal with constant chatter about who could replace him.

That chatter that has already begun. And it involves Burgess and Demetriou’s former mentor Wayne Bennett.

“Lets be honest, you can’t tell me Jason is not looking over his shoulder a little bit,” Anasta said on NRL 360.

“Sam comes back as an assistant to Wayne and goes through the same process. Wayne comes back as a head coach, gives Sam two years working under him like he’s doing with Woolf now, like he did with Demetriou before,” Kent added.

“Then that’s your whole succession plan there, done.”