England international forward, George Burgess has opened up on his decision to stay with South Sydney rather than take up a lucrative move to Parramatta Eels, saying it was a “heart-over-head” decision.
Burgess has played every single first-team game for South Sydney, after moving to the club alongside his brothers, Sam, Luke and Tom.
The Eels came in with a $1.8 million, three-year-deal attempt to prise Burgess away from Redfern, but the prop decided to stay, which means Robert Jennings is now headed `out the door’ to Wests Tigers, to ease salary cap pressure on the Rabbitohs.
“It was a hard decision; it was a good offer from the Eels,” Burgess said. “They’re a great club. I definitely think they’re a club that’s on the up.”
But ultimately South Sydney is where my heart is; it’s a club I’ve spent a lot of time at. I’ve played all my first-grade games here, and to leave under the circumstances wasn’t ideal for me; the timing just wasn’t right so I decided to go with the heart rather than the head.
“You do get some tough decisions in life, but I’ve always thought you can’t do everything for money. There are times when money matters more but this just wasn’t one of those times.
“I didn’t want to leave here at the drop of a hat, it wasn’t the way I pictured myself leaving this club. That’s what ultimately made the decision.”
