Sam Burgess: ‘I totally lost myself’ as the former Souths star opens up on retirement and drug use

Former NRL star Sam Burgess has admitted he ‘totally lost himself’ after retiring due to a chronic shoulder injury in 2019.

In a candid interview with The Times, the 33-year-old said he struggled to adapt to a life without routine when he hung up his boots and went down a dark path.

It included drug use and being stood down from the South Sydney Rabbitohs coaching staff in 2020 amid a storm of allegations from his ex-wife Phoebe and one-time father-in-law Mitchell Hooke.

A conviction for intimidation of Hooke was eventually overturned and no charges followed relating to claims of domestic abuse.

Burgess then spent four weeks in a rehabilitation clinic after he was pulled over by police when on the way to pick up his kids in the NSW southern highlands in February last year.

The 33-year-old said he struggled to adapt to a life without routine when he hung up his boots and went down a dark path which included drug use (pictured, coaching at South Sydney)

Traces of cocaine were found in his system, and Burgess felt the constant media attention and scrutiny which followed was excessive.

‘In that time I totally lost myself,’ Burgess told The Times.

‘Initially I found retirement much harder than expected and I had so many other things in my life that were just getting plastered all over the press here, a lot of it untrue, and I found it very hard to manage for a while.

‘I felt trapped. I had cameras outside my house. I couldn’t leave. I wasn’t doing what I had done for the past ten years, playing and competing. I just really found it hard to deal with, much more than I had expected.’

At a crossroads in life, Burgess took an unusual route on the advice of Hollywood actor and close friend Russell Crowe.

The South Sydney part-owner suggested the champion lock forward coach the Orara Valley Axemen, in northern NSW, and give back to the sport which made him a star.

South Sydney part-owner Russell Crowe suggested the champion lock forward coach the Orara Valley Axemen, in northern NSW (Burgess is pictured with Wayne Bennett)

In a far cry from when Burgess was one of the NRL’s biggest earners, his ‘payment’ this season has been a can of coke and a meat pie most weeks

On Sunday, Burgess’ Axemen will take on South Grafton in their rugby league grand final

Burgess was all in, and his ‘payment’ this season has been a meat pie and can of coke from the canteen each week.

This Sunday, Burgess’ Axemen will host South Grafton in their grand final.

He has loved his return to grassroots footy, and Burgess – who also played for England in a rugby World Cup back in 2015 – said it has reminded him of his formative years spent with UK club Dewsbury Moor.

Next year Burgess will return to South Sydney, having turned down an offer to be on Wayne Bennett’s coaching staff at the Dolphins, who enter the NRL as the game’s newest franchise in March.

He is looking forward to life at Redfern come pre-season training in November. 

‘I am probably in a better position to now go back into a high-performance environment,’ he said.

‘I have learnt so much about coaching and management styles. It has given me a place to come and learn and be myself, make mistakes and try to be successful out of the headlights.’