Sam Burgess confirms Warrington future after Grand Final defeat as Wakefield ‘difference’ identified

Sam Burgess is yet to sign a new Warrington contract, but insists he will remain the Wolves’ head coach following their Super League Grand Final defeat to Wakefield Trinity.

England and NRL icon Burgess saw his side beaten 32-10 at Old Trafford on Saturday evening, ending his third season in charge in heartbreaking circumstances.

The 37-year-old’s future has been among the hottest topics in the game right the way through the season, with his current contract just days away from expiring.

But Burgess’ message around staying has been consistent for the last few months, and in the midst of a Grand Final defeat, he reiterated his desire to deliver success to the Wolves.

‘I gave my word to Simon Moran and that’s better than any contract you can give’

During Burgess’ three-season tenure, Warrington have now lost two Challenge Cup finals, a Super League play-off semi-final and a Grand Final.

After Saturday evening’s loss, he said: “It’s more the beginning. We’ve understood what it takes to get here now, or I have. The squad we’re building now is getting to the squad where it’s my squad.

“We’ve understood as staff what it takes to get here. We’ve got to let the pain of today drive us forward tomorrow.

“I’ve actually not signed a contract yet. I gave my word to Simon Moran and that’s better than any contract you can give these days.”

Warrington found themselves 19-0 down at the break at the Theatre of Dreams, left shellshocked after an opening 40 minutes entirely dominated by Wakefield.

Burgess reflected: “It’s not the result we were after. I think the further you go, the deeper the wound. There’s a lot of disappointed men down there.

“I’m very proud of the team and the club and I’m very proud of the fans for the year we’ve all contributed towards. It might be a little bit hard to see that right now, but in a day or two, I think we might be able to reflect and be a bit more positive. But it hurts.

“We must pay huge congratulations to Wakefield. The stats in the first half, I don’t want to talk about the game too much but they were very level in a lot of aspects but they physically won the ruck.

“That was the difference between the two teams. They controlled the ruck much better and we were just surviving. You’ve just got to pay credit to the other team, they beat us today.”

Having not won a league title since 1955, Wire’s wait for a first-ever Super League triumph goes on. No club has appeared in more than their five Grand Finals in the summer era without having won one.

The Wire boss continued: “They’re a very hot team. Over the last two months, they’ve been hot and it could have been a tough night if we’d fractured in that second half. We stuck together and we tried and today, we just got beat by the better side. 

“I love the way we prepared, I love how we handled the week. We wouldn’t change a thing. We’re really happy with how we got to the game, we just spent a lot of energy.

“19 points is a lot. We did our best (in the second half), but it was too far a gap to change.