South Sydney coach Michael Maguire says Sam Burgess is disappointed at getting involved in some recent dubious incidents that have hurt the Rabbitohs, but has backed him to show the positive side of his game in Friday’s NRL qualifying final against Melbourne.
The big English lock is one of the key go forward men in the powerful Rabbitohs pack.
However, his behaviour has come under increasing scrutiny in recent weeks,
He was suspended for two matches for a squirrel grip and was involved in a couple of incidents in last week’s minor premiership decider against the Roosters.
At one point he appeared to go through the motion of gouging Roosters five-eighth James Maloney and in another instance, appeared to knee prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, though he wasn’t cited in either case.
Maguire said he spoken to Burgess about the incidents in the Roosters clash.
“Everything that goes on in the game, you are always talking to your players about those incidences,” Maguire said on Wednesday.
“Hes’ obviously disappointed, but the easiest way to fix that is make sure he goes out and plays the way he can and I’m sure he will this Friday.”
Maguire was confident Burgess would channel his aggression in more positive ways against Melbourne.
“There’s many different ways he can focus his energies into what he does on the park and you see that every week,” Maguire said.
“He’s had a couple of incidences and its one thing that he knows hurts the team at times.
“If he gets ahead of his game, he’s going to become a better player and he wants to become a better player.”
Maguire wasn’t concerned teams would try to niggle his players, though he has addressed the issue with them.
He conceded Melbourne might look at that tactic, though Storm captain Cameron Smith this week ruled out trying to bait any of the Burgess brothers.
“It’s something that we’re going to make sure we fix,” Maguire said.
“It’s in our hands to fix that and that’s what a we need to go about as a team.”
Halfback Adam Reynolds was sure the Rabbitohs would keep their cool through the finals series.
“I’m sure everyone will be pretty calm, you don’t want to do anything stupid in these big games,” Reynolds said.
“A little incident can cost you.”