Sam Burgess. Often put in the same category as Sonny Bill Williams and Jason Taumalolo when they are several levels above him.
Still a great player, but not on that level. Also was a very grubby player.
Sam, at his best, was as good as them.
But that was few and far between. At his worst, he was downright diabolical.
His first stint, up until the last 10 weeks of 2014, was very inconsistent. But those last 10 weeks of 2014 was as good as any forward could produce, and I think his 2014 grand final is in fact an underrated performance. People always say 'his brothers played better, he only got it because he broke his face', but untrue. Yes his brothers ran for more metres, but Sam still ran for something insane like 180m himself. He came up several massive defensive plays, he was making the hard runs to gain momentum in sets that his brothers then captilised. His offload led to the Korisau break that ended in Georges try.
That was the problem when he returned though. People expected (and talked about him) as that late 2014 player. But his return was more like 2010-June 2014. Alot good, some bad, occasionally diabolical, injuries and suspensions.
