South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett has thrown his support behind captain Sam Burgess following the fiery forward's recent dig at the NRL judiciary.
The Englishman made his frustrations known earlier in the week, likening the NRL and its judiciary process to a 'kangaroo court' following his most recent suspension for a hair pull on Roosters winger Billy Smith.
Burgess was summoned to NRL headquarters to explain his comments on Wednesday, ahead of South Sydney's semi-final against Manly on Friday, with judiciary chairman Geoff Bellew thought to have been furious about Burgess' outcry.
And despite missing his star forward in last week's crucial game, Bennett said he was pleased Burgess chose to speak up about his frustrations.
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"He was honest, and wasn't scripted, we should like that," Bennett said ahead of his side's must-win clash against Manly.
“I didn't think he said anything we didn’t know or feel. He was just brave enough to say it all.
“What do we want, do we want them all cliched and scripted?
“Because that’s what we’re getting at the moment, 80 percent of the people that are interviewed are going down the party line.
“Sam’s always been different and that won’t change for him.
“He’s got something to say, he wants to be honest about it, he was.”
Bennett also denied any suggestion Burgess' fiery comments have been a hindrance on the Rabbitohs' preparations for this weekend's final.
“We never talked about it, we didn’t know what he was going to say,” Bennett insisted.
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'I think we live in a world where we all try and conform, I'm not a social conformer'
— Sporting News Australia (@sportingnewsau) September 17, 2019
Sam Burgess is determined to play his career how he wants to, and that's hard. #NRL #NRLFinals #NRLSouthsManly #GoRabbitohs pic.twitter.com/2z0zbX7yMw
“We’re not distracted by it.”
Prior to being rubbed out last week, Burgess had already been found guilty of two charges during the regular season, which is what led to him being banned last week as opposed to being handed a monetary penalty.
Despite being forced to watch from the sidelines while his side were steamrolled by the Roosters 30-6, he has no plans to change his aggressive ways when he returns this weekend.
“I play the way I want to play, it’s my career," Burgess told Sporting News.
“It’s made me get to this point and I’m not sure I’m going to change right now.
“I’m probably at the back-end of my career and the habit’s probably there.
“There are certainly things I can tone down, I feel I’ve been good with that this year but I play hard and that’s the way it is sometimes.”
