Suspended South Sydney skipper Sam Burgess has taken a dig at the NRL match review committee after being rubbed out of Friday’s NRL preliminary final against Sydney Roosters.
Burgess will be forced to watch from the SCG stands after copping a one-match ban for contrary conduct for pulling the hair of Roosters winger Billy Smith when the two sides met last week.
While the English Test forward was determined to keep his head down and himself out of the limelight, he did hint at his dissatisfaction with the governing body at the game’s finals launch in Sydney on Monday.
“The decision has probably been made the next morning in front of a computer without a feel or anything for the game,” Burgess said.
“There’s no point in me making any more noise, I don’t want the headlines.
“I’m disappointed, everyone else is probably disappointed, I’m sure some people in the NRL are probably disappointed as well.”
Burgess would have ordinarily been free to play with a grade one contrary conduct charge usually carrying a financial penalty.
But he was made to pay the price for his poor disciplinary history.
Under the NRL judiciary system, players cannot incur more than two financial penalties in a year, with a third offence automatically incurring points.
Burgess has been suspended for a total of 11 weeks during his NRL career and earlier in the year narrowly escaped suspension for a careless high tackle on Matt Moylan after successfully having the charge downgraded.
But he bristled when questioned whether he needed to curb his aggression.
“No,” Burgess said.
“I’m disappointed so that’s how I feel.”
He added: “It is a fine line. The context of the game, it’s hard for me to comment, I don’t want to draw away from the game and what’s coming on Friday night.
“I don’t want it to be about me. Everyone has got their own opinion so I’ll let you all write it. I’ll leave mine to myself.”
Burgess’ place in the side is likely to be taken by one of his brothers George (suspension) or Tom (knee) who are expected to return this week.
