South Sydney Rabbitohs star Tom Burgess reveals he almost joined Super League club following Bradford Bulls exit
South Yorkshire Rugby Club star Tom Burgess has revealed he almost joined a Super League club when his exit from the Bradford Bulls was confirmed back in 2012.
Tom, who is the only Burgess brother left standing as a professional rugby league player, is still on the books of the South Sydney Rabbitohs and has been since 2013.
Over the course of a decade, the 31-year-old has registered 225 appearances for the Rabbitohs.
However, there was almost a chance that Burgess signed for the Wigan Warriors rather than the Souths at the end of the 2012 Super League season.
“If I’d not had my brothers there, I probably would have just gone with the option of security and staying at Wigan, which is a good club,” Burgess revealed on James Graham’s The Bye Round podcast.
“I mean, there’s no doubt I probably would have come out here at some point, but I had a phone call with George (Twin Burgess) and he was like, ‘Yeah, just get yourself out here; if you have to live with me for free, then you can’ and that was it.
“I thought I’d just make the decision and I’d give it a crack and back myself and it worked out.”
Though Burgess spent just two seasons playing for the Bulls in the Super League, he loved his time at Odsal.
“I loved my time at Bradford; they were in a really tough spot financially and they literally said to me, We can’t offer you any more than what you’re on now.
“I wasn’t going to go backwards at that stage of my career, so I had the option to go to Wigan for three years, good money and a good club, but I took a punt with Souths.
“Souths offered me a one-year deal; it was just the minimum wage and back when they did the match bonuses, I had 3K a match so I was dying to get my debut but I played for the Bears first.
“My trajectory to where I am now was different from George’s because when I came in ’13, he was starting as a front rower in round one. In that first year, he played and he took the competition by storm and no one could handle him.”
