The drama engulfing South Sydney Rabbitohs is reaching boiling point after the walkout of club legend and assistant coach Sam Burgess amongst drama surrounding star Latrell Mitchell.
Highly regarded rugby league journalist Michael Chammas joined The Rush Hour with Gus, Jude & Wendell to explain what’s going on.
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Alleged reports of fractious relationships between the backroom staff and Latrell Mitchell’s “special treatment” has been the exclamation point after a surprisingly poor year.
The early premiership candidates have only won four games since round 12, and with their season on the brink, it’s gotten a lot worse.
“It’s not what you expect to hear from a club like South Sydney,” said Chammas.
“In Jason Demetriou’s defence, Wayne Bennett did afford Latrell Mitchell a lot of flexibility.
“He gave him time off a lot and treated him differently to everyone else.
“He believed that was the key to get the best out of him.
“Demetriou continued this, which is all well and good when you’re winning.
“But the moment things start to unravel… it was always going to be brought up into the spotlight.”
The tense situation resulted in a backroom meltdown with Sam Burgess cutting his tenure short before he moves to England to coach Warrington Wolves.
Though rumours that Burgess made the decision because of the impending birth of his child or his head coaching role in 2024 were shut down by Chammas.
“Sam Burgess made it quite clear that he couldn’t work there anymore.
“This notion of he’s preparing for [Warrington] or the birth of his child is rubbish!
“He’s left because he believes that there are people at the club that deliberately tried to sabotage him and make him look bad in this situation.
“He’s not the type of guy to go and grovel for his job.”
Though the Daily Telegraph has reported that Burgess will receive $700,000 payout.