How social media reacted to Sam Burgess’ appointment as Warrington Wolves head coach

   08/08/2023

IT was announced last night that Warrington Wolves had appointed Sam Burgess as their head coach from 2024.

The South Sydney Rabbitohs assistant coach has penned a two-year deal with the Cheshire club, whilst current interim boss Gary Chambers has been appointed as director of rugby.

Richard Marshall will take up one assistant coaching role whilst the other is being touted as former Featherstone Rovers boss Sean Long, who was sacked yesterday evening.

With such a momentous decision taking place, it’s fair to say that social media was in a whirl. Here is how people reacted.

One person responded to the news with: “Fantastic a real leader.”

Another tweeted: “As an avid viewer of the NRL I think this is great. Bring it on.”

Another person was seemingly caught by surprise: “Given how random this is I can just weirdly see it working.”

One person was enthusiastic to say the least about the appointment of Burgess: “Love it, The Sparkly Eyed Man. Tough as teak as a player and will demand toughness from bottom to top. Been around the most elite environments as a player so knows all about club cultures. Give the bloke a chance. It’s gonna be mad seeing him around the place.”

That sentiment was echoed by another: “Well I for one welcome a legend of our game👏🏻”

Burgess’ reputation definitely impressed this neutral: “It’s a huge name for Superleague, one that goes well beyond rugby league, for good and bad reasons. @IMG & @SuperLeague need to make the most of that.”

This Leigh fan was certainly complimentary about the appointment: “If anyone knows how to play NRL style fast rugby it’s Sam, loads of experience on the field & assistant coach experience, could be a great move for Wire, time will tell….”

However, opinion was clearly divided as some were shocked by the decision: “10% chance this works. The remaining 90%, it ends terribly.”

Another tweeted: “April fools’ been and gone lads.”

That April Fools theme was also referenced by another Twitter user.

Another posted: “This is only ending badly.”

Another labelled it a “massive risk”.

A Castleford fan didn’t have a good feeling about the appointment, tweeting: “This *feels* like something that won’t go well. The vibes are just off.”