George Burgess enters plea after sexual touching charge

Former Wigan Warriors and England star George Burgess had to retire much earlier than he would have liked due to injuries.

This undermined his career at Wigan and also meant his return to the NRL was a bumpy one.

Burgess has had an interesting career since retiring from the professional game but now is facing allegations of sexual touching as per Fox News and Sydney Morning Herald.

In court, Burgess has pleaded not guilty to the offence in court.

The former England prop has recently been working with Australian team the Brothers Cairns.

Burgess spent the majority of his career with South Sydney winning the 2014 Grand Final.

He then joined Wigan as the Englishman wanted a taste of the Super League but injuries got in the way and that was true of his NRL return with St George Illawarra last year.

He then returned to the rugby league field in 2023 with Cairns.

‘I’d been back around South Sydney doing the corporate game day stuff and I was seeing the energy again, and I felt that it might be time to get back around a footy club,’ he told News Corp after his unveiling in Cairns on Wednesday.

‘I didn’t want to disrespect the NRL again by going in underdone.’

‘We wanted to bring a marquee player, but not just for the on-field stuff,’ said Brothers head of football Tim Rumford.

‘We wanted to bring someone who could bring a professional attitude, help our players in terms of raising the standards and lead by example.

‘George impressed me with the way he spoke about his desire, his will to succeed and kick on for the next part of his footy and off-field life as well.’

He would later go on to prioritise an off field role with the club.

He was linked with a shock move to relegation threatened Castleford Tigers this year and although talks were held he turned down the move to the Jungle.

It will be interesting to see if his twin follows older brother Sam back to England and if he does what George will do.