redandwhite4evr
Juniors
- Messages
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they certainly don't appear to be interested in action roles.
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they certainly don't appear to be interested in action roles.
whens play the ball school on ???
Couldn’t have said it better Phil.
wk 2 mate - gotta catch it before you can play it!
His playing best is damned good. If he still has it a great asset to our club.
NRL 2021: George Burgess joins St George Illawarra Dragons on two-year deal
The former Rabbitoh has decided to have one more crack at the NRL — check out all the details of his new deal with St George Illawarra.
George Burgess had to learn how to walk again in a bid to resurrect his career.
Now he’s ready to run out for a shock rugby league comeback against his former club South Sydney and twin brother Tom in the Charity Shield.
Burgess revealed his mental health battles as he weighed up walking away from the game because of his badly damaged hip.
Just 29 years old, Burgess decided to give it one last crack and on Monday signed a two-year deal with St George Illawarra.
While Burgess is not officially a Dragon until November, he has already started working with the club’s medical staff up to five days a week.
Burgess has relocated his young family to Wollongong after enduring 14 days in hotel quarantine. He is now three-and-a-half months on from the revolutionary hip resurfacing surgery which left him on crutches for 12 weeks after cutting short his stint at Wigan.
Respected NRL physio Brien Seeney said there were no documented cases in professional rugby league of a player returning from hip resurfacing surgery. Tennis star Andy Murray and rugby international Sean O’Brien have also undergone the surgery in recent years.
“I’ve had to learn how to walk normally again,” Burgess told The Daily Telegraph.
“It’s a whole new metal hip. The pain has changed massively already.
“I’ve carried the pain for 10 years and had some good and bad years managing it. With the chronic pain that I had, I was becoming very unhappy. Even to the point I was a bit depressed with life, being injured and in pain all the time.
“Since having surgery I’ve felt better mentally. Last year it was pretty bad. It was tough being away from family in lockdown not knowing (what my future held) and not having regular treatment. It deteriorated. I found myself struggling a bit with it, not knowing where to turn.
“I didn’t want to retire. I just thought I want to give it another crack. There was a point last year where I thought I might be forced into retirement.”
Burgess also battled Covid-19 earlier this year. He had surgery four weeks ago to remove the screws in his hip before flying to Australia and completing hotel quarantine with his young family.
Burgess reached out to St George Illawarra assistant coach Peter Gentle at the end of May. The pair knew each other from their time at the Rabbitohs and the conversation was enough to spark an interest from both parties.
Eventually Burgess had chats with Dragons coach Anthony Griffin and the club signed off on his contract after consulting his surgeon and medical staff at Wigan.
“I’m quietly confident when I get fit again I can get back to my playing best,” Burgess said. “I feel mentally ready to play again.
“The Dragons were fully behind me and willing to take me on and help me out and get myself back to my best. I’ve always respected the Dragons.
“They are happy with it with the obvious risks and same with me.”
The contract is incentivised meaning if Burgess can once again stars he will be rewarded financially.
Burgess said he had a fleeting chat with his former club South Sydney but indicated “it wasn’t going to happen with their space on their roster”.
He is hoping to be running by the time the Dragons return to pre-season training in November and has already circled the Charity Shield as a potential date for his comeback where he would square off against Tom.
As I understand it, George's contract starts at a low base rate and is incentivised. He gets paid more the more FG he plays, and he has to play well to play FG. That should mean that unless he is playing well enough to hold down a FG spot, then he shouldn't cost us very much.
