Huddersfield Giants prop Tom Burgess has revealed when he has pencilled in his retirement from the professional game, and confirmed he already has a post-playing job lined up.
Burgess has been back in the UK for just over 18 months, after agreeing a three-year deal with the Giants starting in 2025.
The former England international came in on marquee money and was expected to play a huge part in the club’s rebuild, something that hasn’t really taken off.
At the time of writing, Burgess has featured in 36 of 49 possible games for the club, so injuries haven’t hampered him too much, but as it stands, he is currently weighing up the decision to have hip surgery that would end his season.
The prop stated that there is around a four-month recovery process, so he would need to time it to miss next to no pre-season.
That is because he wants to go out in the best way possible. 2027 is the final year of his contract, and the final year that Burgess intends to play the sport professionally.
“I signed three years with the Giants, and I’m not looking to progress past that,” he said on The Bench podcast. “This is three years, and I want to finish on my own terms.”
The 34-year-old is all but certain to hang up the boots at the end of his Huddersfield contract, given he already has a role lined up for when he returns to Australia.
He said: “The plan is to go back to Australia. I do have a role lined up at the Rabbitohs.
“It’s a bit of admin, a bit of ambassador sort of role, but it’s sort of just being around the club. It’s not full-time, which is good as I can go back and figure out what I want to do in terms of other work.
“I’ve loved being back in England, but I do miss Australia and I suppose that’s where our base is now. My Mum’s there, she’s over here at the moment, but she misses me being around the corner with the grandchildren, and the other two brothers are there.”
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