Sam Burgess says his "good, bad and ugly" will help him at Warrington Wolves
Relaxed Sam Burgess says “the good, bad and ugly” of his playing career has prepped him as Super League’s youngest head coach.
The ex-England captain, 35, took charge of Warrington for the first time in Friday’s friendly against Widnes. The real business gets underway at beaten Grand Finalists Catalans on February 17. But former dual-code international Burgess, who found both fame and notoriety Down Under with South Sydney, isn’t worried about a lack of experience heading into his first top job.
He said: “I know I'm 35 but from 15 to 35 - the last 20 years - there's been a lot crammed in. The good, bad and the ugly. I've been right at the top, right at the bottom and been in the middle for a long time.
“I've got a lot of life experience, and you learn a lot about yourself in those moments. I can share a lot of it, it's helped me stay calm. I don't get too high or too low anymore. I'm pretty balanced so every bit of experience I've gathered over the last 20 years has shaped the way I will coach.”
Juggernaut forward Burgess, who admitted drug-taking after the collapse of his marriage, earned hero status helping Souths win their first Grand Final in 43 years in 2014. Warrington hopes he can sprinkle some of his obvious star dust - and mental toughness - on them to end their own championship drought which dates back to 1955. Yorkshireman Burgess recently took his squad on a brutal army camp with SAS: Who Dares Wins chief instructor Ant Middleton.
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Players have said that’s brought them closer together. Big-spending Wolves won their opening eight games last year under Daryl Powell before spectacularly imploding again. Burgess, who retired in 2019 due to a chronic shoulder issue, has come in after his stint as Souths assistant came to an abrupt end last August amid talk of a fall-out with boss Jason Demetriou.
Warrington Wolves boss Sam Burgess is ready for his first shot as a top-flight head coach (WARRINGTON WOLVES) (Joe Richardson / Warrington Wolves)On returning to Super League 15 years after leaving Bradford Bulls, he admitted: “I certainly wouldn't have picked this as what would have happened this year. It's happened quick. But I don't mind that. I like being thrown in at the deep end. I didn't know if I'd come back here ever, so it's funny how things work out.
"There's a lot of sliding doors moments in a career and this was one; things weren't working out at Souths, this came up and it all fell into place very quickly. I'm really enjoying what we've done already and looking forward to what's coming. There'll be plenty of ups and downs this year but you've got to manage that: it's part of the whole part of being a head coach.”
Burgess revealed he could have come back to Super League after his ill-fated spell with Bath RU ended in 2015. But he said: “It would have been for the wrong reasons; it would have been a choice based around money. I've learned that if you make a choice around money you end up paying for it in the long run. I ignored the money and went back to Australia [and Souths]. I didn't ever think about coming back. But this is a great opportunity. I've not regretted it one bit.”
Sam Burgess after helping England win an epic 2017 World Cup semi-final over Tonga (Getty Images)Burgess also explained it took him until recently to finally accept he’d finished playing. He said: “I realised last year that I'm retired now; it took me three years to figure that out! I don't jump into training as much as has been made out; I like doing the running and trying to stay fit but in terms of the skill, I sit back and I've let Gleese [Martin Gleeson] and Richard [Marshall] do a lot of coaching too so I can observe.
"I can see a bit more doing that, and I'm stood back quite a bit, which is nice. I jumped in the centres last year [in training] and tore my hammy and that was the moment when I realised it was time to stop, and time to start focussing on coaching.
South Sydney's Sam Burgess receives the Clive Churchill medal as man of the match after the NRL Grand Final victory against the Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium 2014. (Corbis via Getty Images)"But I'm only 35. [Warrington captain] Stefan [Ratchford] is older than me and I'm coaching him. I love the game so much. I've been obsessed with it from birth to now, so giving it up was never easy - but coaching is the next best thing.”
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