South Sydney forward Sam Burgess has declared himself a certain starter for Friday night's clash against the Parramatta Eels at ANZ Stadium a week after he was forced from the same venue with injury.
The Englishman left the field in the 26th minute of the Round 14 clash with the Wests Tigers after collecting the knee of Mitchell Moses as he attempted to apply kick pressure to the five-eighth.
Initial reports suggested serious damage to the shoulder or collarbone, but Burgess confirmed he would be fine to play this weekend.
"My shoulder's pulled up fine," Burgess told media on Tuesday morning.
"There's no structural damage which we were worried about initially. I should be fine for this weekend."
That's not what he thought last Friday night.
"I did actually think I'd broken by collarbone," the 2014 Clive Churchill Medallist said.
"I've had two reconstructions in my right shoulder before so it was probably just some old scarring there.
"My arm went dead straightaway right down to my fingers so I thought there was something wrong, but it was probably just some old scarring and nerves around there getting upset a little bit."
In a positive sign for South Sydney supporters, Burgess said there was an outside chance he could have returned to the field last Friday had his team still been in the contest.
"I couldn't move my arm for a while and then I started getting a little bit more movement," he said.
"If the game was in the balance I thought I might be able to give them 20 minutes, but the doctor ruled it out and said he thought I'd be a passenger on the field and would probably do more harm than good.
"He made a call and it was probably the right call on the night."
Now that he's been given the green light to play, Burgess will be keen to replicate his Round 10 heroics from the last time the Bunnies faced the Eels.
In that game the South Sydney lock ran for 220 metres from 24 carries and made 36 tackles, one line break and three tackle breaks in a vintage 80-minute performance as his side emerged two-point winners on the road.
While his numbers this season have been tremendous, there is one area of his game that he knows needs improving if the Rabbitohs want to stay in touch of the top eight.
Burgess is ranked 10th in the NRL for most errors with 15 and is the worst offender amongst the forwards.
The Englishman was the first to admit it was something he needed to address.
"The last month of footy hasn't been my greatest with the ball. I've had a few errors so I'm a bit disappointed with that. It means more work for my teammates. No one means to make errors out there," he said.
"It's my 11th or 12th season now and I'm still working on keeping hold of the ball. It's a funny old game.
"Some you can control, some you can't. I guess I'll take a little bit more time with the ball, it's as simple as that."
