Rabbitohs confirm Burgess indiscipline before Manly move

South Sydney Rabbitohs have confirmed that Luke Burgess and former skipper John Sutton were disciplined by the club for an incident which occurred at a preseason training camp in Arizona.

Burgess left the Rabbitohs for Manly shortly afterwards, despite having a year left on his contract, while Sutton lost the captaincy.

A club statement reads:

“Two South Sydney Rabbitohs players, Luke Burgess and John Sutton, were involved in an incident in Arizona at the end of the team’s high altitude training camp last year.

“The Rabbitohs informed the NRL Integrity Unit of the incident straight away and have kept the Integrity Unit informed along the way.

“It related to alleged disorderly behaviour of the two players, who were charged. Charges that were laid have since been withdrawn.

“Despite the charges being withdrawn, the players were disciplined internally by the Club for breaching the club’s code of conduct, in consultation with the NRL, and the NRL is completely satisfied by the actions taken by the club.”

Souths coach Michael Maguire has insisted that the incident was not the season for Burgess’s departure from the club.

He was far from pleased with what occurred, however.

“[I was] obviously disappointed,” Maguire said of the incident.

“We’ve gone through the right procedures and we’ve moved on from it now. We’re focused on the games ahead. It did happen at the start of the season and a lot of lessons were learnt through that period. 

“At all times we are setting high standards and the players set them.

“Through this incident we’ve come stronger together because of the things you go through as a team. We’ve got to grow from it, we have to be a better team for it.

“That incident is what John learns from. We have high standards at the club and John is one that pushes that regularly.”