When Russell Crowe hustled a young Sam Burgess to up and leave the comfort of home (albeit home was a cold, wet and miserable North England) he would have had dreams of starting a dynasty not only with Sam but also his three brothers with similar talents...

Sam Burgess repaid Crowe's faith and belief with some sublime displays of skill, power and endurance along with many suspensions and injuries. He showed promise that he could be considered one of the greatest forwards to ever play rugby league and he ended 2013 on a level pegging with Sonny Bill Williams as the best forward going around. In my mind Burgess was a few pegs below SBW in all departments. He wasn't as big as SBW, he wasn't as skillful and he didn't have the same impact as SBW. Most importantly for me, Burgess didn't share the same qualities as SBW which made SBW such an enjoyable character during his return to the NRL. 

Now we have a case of Sam Burgess trying to go one better than SBW. SBW changed codes and gave himself a fair amount of time to show everyone how serious he was about giving rugby a crack. He gave himself plenty of time to learn the rules and the little things that would ensure his success in the code. Burgess hopes to do all this in a much smaller amount of time. After the 2014 NRL season he will make the switch and hope to make the England team for the 2015 World Cup. Do you think Burgess can learn all he needs to learn and adjust to rugby in a smaller time window than SBW? I definitely don't think so. Heck, I don't even know where he will play! He's big enough to be able to slot in to a back row position and could definitely provide some excitement to a usually dour English forward pack. Or he can try his hand in the back line where he won't be expected to hit as many rucks and will have a slightly easier ride. If the back line is where he wants to set up base, look for the SBW comparison to not only continue but to intensify. 

You won't hear anything out of the Rabbitohs along these lines, but surely they must be a little pissed off that Burgess is doing what he's doing. Unless of course it was all part of the master plan/deal put together to bring Burgess across to Australian shores. I wouldn't put this past Russell Crowe and Burgess and they way the Rabbitohs have reacted it seems this idea has a little bit of credibility. They've issued their support and desire for Burgess to help bring the Premiership to Redfern before he departs and there has been very little anger or resentment towards Burgess. This is despite the fact that Burgess is departing the club that gave him and his family a new lease of life.

That brings us back to the now, 2014. How will this all impact on the Rabbitohs this season? Obviously one side of this is that it will help the Rabbitohs put it all together for one serious crack at the premiership this season with Burgess in their line up. A big farewell so to speak. However, I don't think that the Bunnies will only be able to finally taste the sweet taste of victory with Sam Burgess in their team. They have someone bigger and better in Greg Inglis who has a much greater impact on the Rabbitohs and there are many NRL teams now with plenty of size and power in their forward packs. The Rabbitohs will always be in the mix as long as Greg Inglis, Adam Reynolds and Luke Keary are in the same team, with or without the Burgess named Sam.

I get this weird feeling that Sam Burgess has a bit of a crush on SBW. He has seen what such an athlete is capable of and how they can cross codes with such fantastic success. This is why Sam Burgess is not the sharpest knife in the draw - he's trying to do what SBW did and continues to do. But Sammy Burgess, please realise that there is only one SBW. There is only one bloke who has been blessed with such natural gifts as well as the ability to understand what it takes to make a successful code switch. Mate, if you want to be a Lote Tuqiri, Matt Rogers, Joel Tomkins, Andy Farrell type of code hopper, be my guest.