great player on his day..but liked a few weeks rest last season on numerous occasions due to stupid antics

Good luck to him if he goes.Can't blame a guy for wanting to secure his long term financial future whilst getting a shot at a truly global event.

Can't help but feel disappointed though that we will miss 2/3 years of Sam in his prime, whilst having his game strangled out him in the other code and then returning half the player he was.

Hardest rugby league pill I've had to swallow in years.

The thing is, I don't blame him. It shows what a financial and commercial powerhouse RU is when it can attract the likes of burgess away from...not super league....but the NRL.

I put myself in burgess' shoes and think

money - check
chance to become national icon and win for your country - check
get's to come home (as nice as aus is, it isn't home) - check

I mean it's really a no brainer for burgess. Most player won't have the same mentality regarding RU that fans have, it's a career. This is a good career move for burgess, which is a damning indictment on the strength of our game.

Really.

Please tell us why....

I'm well aware what he did last season, i'm seeing some South fans already claiming we'd be better off without him. Most of these wits want Sandow back.

Burgess is irreplaceable to souths.

Don't worry, all we need to do is lower the cap a bit more, then Wakefield and Cas will 'catch up' - the league will be ultra-competitive and then fans and sponsors will flock back to the game and we can buy all the talent back again. (C) Nigel Wood / SL / RFL

You just don't get it!

Burgess is leaving the NRL precisely because RU is a much bigger deal internationally than RL. Ditto SBW. The reason RU is much bigger even though it is less attractive to watch is because it is played seriously in more countries than RL. This is in part due to the fact that RL in the northern hemisphere has been dragged down into the economic gutter by the mentally challenged men in charge of the RFL who cannot grasp how to grow the game.

It is Wood who has stymied Richard Lewis's attempts to build up the game in France, --- ever since Lewis became head of Sports England and only a part time Chairman of the RFL. Wood won't allow Toulouse into the top tier of SL until they bring a TV contract equal to Sky's proportion for 2 clubs. We know that France cannot develop with only one SL club. Wood does not give a damn. For Wood it is all about balancing the books today and tomorrow, which he cannot do because he has a parochial regional competition for sale. Wood cannot think long term. He is a petty accountant with a typical accountant's conservatism and risk avoidance mentality. Businesses don't grow and flourish with such people in control.

Barwick is an empty suit who hasn't expressed a single new idea since he took over as Chairman.

The Hetheringtons are bum kissers only interested in retaining their little Yorkshire fiefdoms.

We have lost a great player to a much higher profile RU partly because RL in the UK is a tiny enterprise run by selfish men and dunces.

Nice angle Jean. That'll reel a few in.

Can't understand why Burgess would be lured by the prospect of playing international Rugby Union when he's got a 4N tournament to look forward to on dates, times and venues yet to be determined because they are nothing more than an off-season afterthought.

So the England RU backline in 2015 could be.

10. Owen Farrell
11. Kyle Eastmond
12. Sam Burgess
13. Joel Tomkins
14. Chris Ashton

Want to bring Jason Robinson and Henry Paul back too?

Still, this isn't the place to bash Union. Although, it does say a lot about our inability to keep players?

The odd thing for me however is, why Burgess? I simply can't see him being a success. Joel Tomkins is by far the better natural athlete, but he has struggled at times to grasp the finer concepts of Union. Why would Burgess be any better? His skillset is not suited to RU.

With Manu Tuilagi as England's battering ram, what would Burgess offer to England RU? Yes he can offload, but his offloads are totally different in style to Sonny Bill Williams.

Burgess has no natural RU position, and if they do sign him, I just think it will be a bad fit for everyone.

Looks like Lee Smith has signed for Newcastle RU as well, were doooooooomed.

Seriously though didn't Lee already try this switching code thing once already with not much success!

Hard to argue with that. One of the saddest arguments we get nowadays is that Union is now SO far ahead, we may as well just give up and carry on being run by the same clowns. Growing League to where it needs to be (which is not about 'beating' Union but simply delivering the growth that the sport is fundamentally capable of and deserves), is a huge challenge. The challenge has been made much bigger by the years of idiotic leadership and the failure to grasp the nature of both the threats and the opportunities in the success of Union over the past 20 years. It's no good coming up with random suggestions - before any of that, we need capable, strong, and visionary leaders.

I've said the same thing. SB is a class act but a class act in RL. I can't see him fitting into an RU position easily or quickly. His style of play just isn't suited to RU and I feel he would be wasted at inside/outside centre or #8.

For himself and his already well built reputation he must stay in RL.

£500,000 fee being mentioned with the RFU funding some of it and Bath the rest.

Burgess would be a good crash ball centre, but he's not as good as S B Williams. After reading what Burgess has put his body through, I'm not surprised he's going. Granted many do.