Burgess seeks redemption after 'letting team down'
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Sam Burgess feels like he let down his teammates against the Storm with a few personal errors he doesn't intend making again this weekend against the Dragons.
On the bright side, Burgess was South Sydney's best tackler with 38 and ran the most metres of any player on the field – 176 – compared with Dale Finucane as Storm's best on 148 metres.
But the big Englishman, who signed a new four-year deal with Souths on the eve of last Friday's 29-28 loss, made the most errors of the Rabbitohs with four.
Two of those errors were dropped balls, which is not usually a trademark of the Burgess game. Storm back-rower Felise Kaufusi ran at him hard with great success.
"I've got to be better with the ball, 100 per cent," Burgess said on Monday.
"I've got to not lead with the ball from the kick-off. I'll find a better way. I’m not making excuses – I've just got to tighten up on the ball."
Add in a couple of defensive errors and Burgess is drawing a very determined line in the Redfern Oval turf this week.
"I'm not frustrated but the last thing I ever want to do is let the team down. And I felt like I did that in certain areas of the game on the weekend.
"But I'm experienced enough to know what to do.
"I said it instantly on the field 'Sorry'. I dump things quick; move on quick. I've done that my whole life – you can't dwell on things or it continues in your performance," Burgess said.
"We're a tight enough group, know each other well, experienced wins and losses together, so we're a pretty close bunch of guys.
"I don't think my moments led to that [costing the game]. There were small moments where we can do better as a team. Small things lead to big things.
"So if we're better at the small things, we'll eliminate the big ones."
Burgess said there were "four moments" – and not his four errors – that cost Souths, after the team did a review on Monday.
"It was four moments between a win and a loss. I know where they are, we know where they are as a team. But you don't know when the moments are coming in a game.
"So you have to be 'on' the whole time."
Burgess watched the Dragons 48-18 win over the Broncos with a certain deal of admiration.
"They were great.. really good. I know James [Graham] led from the front; I thought [Tyson] Frizell and [Tariq] Sims were very good. Jack De Belin throws in a bit of finesse with the ball," he said.
"They were ready to play finals footy – as simple as that."
But next Saturday night against the Rabbitohs, the Dragons could be missing one or two of Burgess' England teammates: Gareth Widdop (dislocated shoulder) and James Graham (concussion).
The last time Burgess faced Graham in a NRL finals series match - the 2014 grand final against the Bulldogs - he ended up with a fractured cheekbone.
"With James I guess the story will be written after the game," Burgess said.
"The history, the rivalries, we all like to talk about them pre-game but they're actually created during the 80 minutes after we cross the white line.
"I won't talk too much about James. I hope he recovers well so we'll be ready to go Saturday night.
"The individual battles will come. But I don’t go into a game thinking about it."
He also said he felt "shattered" for Widdop.
"For me as a South Sydney player, I've got to focus on here. But for me as a friend and an England teammate I'm thinking of Gareth."
