Chris McQueen insists he bears no grudge towards Sam Burgess and says the forward contacted him to apologise following his exit from the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
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Burgess completed a lucrative return to NRL after a one-season stay in rugby union with Premiership side Bath.
However, in order to get his contract registered the Rabbitohs had to cut players from their squad to make room in the salary cap.
McQueen, who played 116 games for the Rabbitohs and won the Grand Final in 2014, was one such player to be shipped out and he subsequently joined Gold Coast Titans.
The 28-year-old admits he was saddened to leave South Sydney, but has no issue with Burgess' return and is looking forward to playing the Rabbitohs in a pre-season game on Saturday.
"I was disappointed with having to leave and getting shown the door the way that I did but I also understand that's footy," McQueen said.
"It wasn't his fault. Me and him had a chat after I left the club, he wanted to, I guess, let me know that he was sorry with the way things worked out.
"I'm understanding of that and there are no hard feelings and I'm very excited to be playing against all the boys.
"He hadn't returned to training when it all went down and I posted a message to all the boys and he gave me a call back pretty quick after that and we had a good chat.
"Me and Sam played a lot of footy together, won a premiership together so our relationship and our friendship will go long beyond footy.
"He's probably the best forward in the world. He'd be up there with the best players in the world. He certainly brings something and is someone that we have to watch and shut down if we want to win this game and be competitive."