Sam Burgess is one of England’s finest ever players and one of the few who transitioned to the NRL and did so seamlessly from such a young age.
Despite his incredible contributions to the Australian game including a man of the match performance in South Sydney’s 2014 Grand Final win, he still cops plenty of stick from the Australian media.
Only last week did he help save a fan’s life at an open training session for his beloved Rabbitohs however it wasn’t until the lady affected, Vicki Panos, came forward and spoke with WWOS claiming Burgess ‘saved her life’ that the press gave the story oxygen.
More often than not they have a tendency to highlight his short fallings and that’s something that former teammate of Burgess, Andy Lynch, has come forward about and criticised whilst vouching for the character of Slammin Sam.
“That’s the Australian media, they do some good stories obviously but as soon as something bad happens they jump upon the players,” the former Castleford, Bradford and Hull FC man stated.
“Nobody ever tries to cover that side whereas if it’s something that he’s not done right then they jump on it. Nobody is perfect and things happen but when the good things happen they need to promote that as well.
“He gets a lot of stick does Sam but he’s very humble, he’ll do anything for you and he’ll never forget where he’s come from. I speak to him over here and he’s always got time even though he’s busy with Souths.”
Supporting Lynch’s sentiments surrounding the former Clive Churchill medal winner was the lady who Burgess helped at Souths just less than a week ago.
Vicki Panos told WWOS: “I’ve read a lot of bad things about him in the press but always thought he was a decent person… this just proves it.”
Whilst Panos saw the man Burgess, Lynch got to see the development of a young Sam Burgess during his time in Super League at Bradford and he referenced the way in which he carried himself, revealing that the 18-year-old even taught him and fellow players a thing or two.
“You saw it in Sam from an early age, if you look in terms of his home life and looking after his Dad he was probably years ahead of what his age was. He was so mature and you just knew he was special from the first time he came training.”
