LIVE: Burgess laments 'hard' post-NRL life

Premiership-winning erstwhile South Sydney prima Sam Burgess has had a tumultuous fewer years.

After being forced into a aesculapian retirement, Burgess started a coaching vocation earlier resigning amid a raft of allegations from his ex-wife and father-in-law.

He spent 4 weeks successful rehab aft being recovered driving with cocaine successful his strategy en-route to picking up his children, earlier winning the SAS Australia world show.

He said those 4 weeks successful rehab were a debased point.

"Initially I recovered status overmuch harder than expected and I had truthful galore different things successful my beingness that were conscionable getting plastered each implicit the property here, a batch of it untrue, and I recovered it precise hard to negociate for a while," helium told The Times.

"I felt trapped. I had cameras extracurricular my house. I couldn't leave. I wasn't doing what I had done for the past 10 years, playing and competing. I conscionable truly recovered it hard to woody with, overmuch much than I had expected."

He has since recommenced his coaching career, albeit successful a acold much writer roots capacity, astatine the helm of the Orara Valley Axemen, based successful Curumba connected the NSW mid-north coast, arsenic a favour to Russell Crowe.

But earlier the play could adjacent get started, Burgess recovered himself astir virtually up the proverbial creek successful hopeless request of a paddle.

The record-breaking rainfall that dumped connected the East Coast besides flooded the team's location crushed and a shed that included overmuch of the sides merchandise.

"Our tract flooded. Our merchandise shed and our canteen flooded," Burgess said.

"Me and 3 of my players had to aquatics crossed the stream that had flooded the tract to prevention merchandise and wealth that we had successful our instrumentality strategy and rescue it.

"Then we were stranded connected the different broadside of the stream due to the fact that the h2o came up excessively high. That was an lawsuit wherever you think, 'Jeez, 12 months agone I was astatine the apical of the crippled and present determination are mice and rats and snakes each trying to flight the stream too'."

Burgess said erstwhile helium took the job, Crowe told him a walk people would beryllium conscionable making the finals, but time they volition instrumentality connected Grafton successful the expansive final.

Burgess said it was important to springiness backmost to the game, peculiarly astatine a grass-roots level.

"I came done playing rugby league backmost location astatine a nine called Dewsbury Moor. It was a truly large inferior club. I spent the bulk of my puerility determination with my father, my mum and 3 brothers.

"This has reminded maine of that environment. I felt the responsibility, the value of what these clubs tin mean. That is wherefore I person devoted truthful overmuch vigor and passionateness for this project.

"I consciousness I person made specified a quality present successful a abbreviated play of time. I learned aboriginal connected that to get this up and moving I would request to embed myself present to amusement however invested I was.

"If you could spot my team, however adjacent they are and however overmuch they attraction astir each different successful a abbreviated abstraction of time. It has been a large season."

Former manager Wayne Bennett attempted to lure Burgess to the Dolphins for 2023, but Burgess has alternatively elected to instrumentality to South Sydney.