Sam Burgess has denied he and the South Sydney Rabbitohs are on bad terms following his dramatic and immediate exit from the club.
Burgess, who was part of Jason Demetriou's assistant coaching staff this year but will have his first head coaching role at the Warrington Wolves next year, left the club with a few weeks remaining in 2023 while the Rabbitohs were still in the middle of their finals push.
A report from News Corp's James Hooper, suggested a call between club owner Russell Crowe and a Rabbitohs board member ended with Burgess being hung up on, but speaking on The Matty Johns Show, Burgess moved to clear that incident up.
“I'll clear this up,” Burgess responded.
“We had a good conversation and he said ‘all right mate we'll see you later'. I don't know where it's come from. Somebody has to hang up.
“There was no animosity whatsoever, I was supposed to be up at his farm this week, but expecting the baby and all that.”
The Rabbitohs crumbled during the second half of the season. After leading the competition at the end of Round 11, the club conceded more than double the amount of points per game for the remainder of the season and missed the top eight.
Another assistant coach - John Morris - is also set to exit the club at the end of the season, instead electing to link up with Benji Marshall at the Wests Tigers.
Ben Hornby was also linked with a move back to the St George Illawarra Dragons, but it now appears he will remain at Redfern.
Burgess said that he believed his departure was "the best decision" for the team and club.
“I don't really want to go back into the detail of it all,” Burgess said. “I went in that morning to do the best thing for the club and for the team in that moment.
“I thought being there and the distraction that was around, I made what I thought the best decision was for the team at that time to get away from there.
“A few things had gone on behind closed doors so I thought it's just best to leave it there and move on.”
