Burgess the Best

[ManlyBacker]

I'm not sure that is right Ramrod. I thought we were pretty advanced in talks before Crowe swooped. I even knew of Burgess at the time and he really was a star in the making so I would be surprised if NRL coaches weren't aware.

 

[Roger_Ramjet]

SBW was great last year but ordinary this year. Burgearse was good this year but I still think JT is the best at the moment

 

[Hamster Huey]

Our issue was that Burgess still had two years to run on his Bradford contract and there was negotiation of a Transfer Fee to cover the Bulls early loss. Early talk from their chairman was around $1mil to secure his release.

Talk was definitely further than, '...we'll check it out,' with Crusher telling a UK paper, "...we have spoken to Sam and he has made no secret of the fact that he wants to come and play down here. He probably is the pick of the next generation in England."

It subsequently came out that Souths snared Burgess for ~$200,000AUS compensation to Bradford, which is a long way off their initial asking price.

 

[Peter C]

Read from the Tele as mentioned by someone earlier:

Beaver said:

“I tried to get Sam to Manly,” said Menzies, speaking for the first time about his plan to steer Burgess to Brookvale.

“I was close to Manly, so I rang them and I said, ‘You should check this guy out, he’s keen to come over, he can play, he will be a star in the NRL’.

“It was in 2009, my first year at Bradford, and Sam said he wanted to test himself in the NRL.

“I said, ‘Des, I know Sam wants to come (to the NRL), I don’t know how many other people know it yet, all I know is the kid can play, so do what you have to do’.

“Des said, ‘Yeah thanks, we’ll check it out’ and that was all I heard.

“You have to fit people in the budget, so I didn’t press much further than that. The next thing I heard the Bunnies got him, so full credit to Russell Crowe and Souths for taking a chance with him.”

--- There's the genius who obviously didn't rate Beaver's opinion. We could have had the whole clan. Maybe.

Mrs Burgess as well.

 

[Rodo]

Correct

All the garbage about what an amazing player SBW is, he is a mile behind Burgess imo

But Kiwi, you can't say that. I was cut down on this forum some time ago for saying SBW was not so amazing. Seems like people are starting to agree with me now.

Pretty heroic effort by Burgess to play the GF with a broken cheekbone.

 

[Shoe1]

Read from the Tele as mentioned by someone earlier:

Beaver said:

“I tried to get Sam to Manly,” said Menzies, speaking for the first time about his plan to steer Burgess to Brookvale.

“I was close to Manly, so I rang them and I said, ‘You should check this guy out, he’s keen to come over, he can play, he will be a star in the NRL’.

“It was in 2009, my first year at Bradford, and Sam said he wanted to test himself in the NRL.

“I said, ‘Des, I know Sam wants to come (to the NRL), I don’t know how many other people know it yet, all I know is the kid can play, so do what you have to do’.

“Des said, ‘Yeah thanks, we’ll check it out’ and that was all I heard.

“You have to fit people in the budget, so I didn’t press much further than that. The next thing I heard the Bunnies got him, so full credit to Russell Crowe and Souths for taking a chance with him.”

--- There's the genius who obviously didn't rate Beaver's opinion. We could have had the whole clan. Maybe.

That's really interesting ramrod. I also wonder about James Graham. I am aware he played with Jamie Lyon at St Helens, and was rumoured to be on our radar. Wonder if Des steered him to belmore instead of brookie. (Feel free to move to tin hat thread, but I have my suspicions)

 

[Fluffy]

I'm not sure that is right Ramrod. I thought we were pretty advanced in talks before Crowe swooped. I even knew of Burgess at the time and he really was a star in the making so I would be surprised if NRL coaches weren't aware.

There was plenty of interest and he was quoted as wanting to test himself against the best and play in the NRL.

We just couldn't afford to pay the extras like relocation costs of the mother and brothers as well as the transfer fee. Recall reading about the flashy new house Mrs Burgess got when she moved to Australia.

 

[Brookie]

James Graham > Sam Burgess