The Sam Burgess saga has hit a climax with the Englishman set to return to the NRL and the South Sydney Rabbitohs. There are so many nooks and crannies to explore here, so I thought that I would attack from both an NRL angle and then take a look at how his rugby experiment ended this way tomorrow. Here's the NRL angle...

A few weeks ago I spun a yarn about Australia's insecurity with their 'superstars' which is especially the case in the NRL. Apparently the NRL needs Burgess and if you talk to some Aussies, they'd tell you that the NRL desperately needs Burgess, Sonny Bill Williams and Isarel Folau back in its code. This overlooks the many great players the NRL already has and the constant wave of young guns coming through that made the 2015 season so entertaining and while I don't feel that the NRL needs Burgess, the Rabbitohs certainly do.

Burgess is a massive lad who moves better than most forwards and has a motor that ensures that he stands out in the NRL. While reading about Burgess over the past few weeks, it became clear to me that Burgess' value to the Rabbitohs wasn't exactly what he does on the field, which is still more than useful; Burgess is the Rabbitohs' leader.

The Rabbitohs had a strange season in 2015. Not only were they inconsistent on the field dominating a team one week and then looking like a tame mid-table team the next week, there was also a constant flow of off-field dramas or at least rumours. Rumours and whispers aren't always true in any sporting competition, but they do serve as a beacon of trouble. Michael Maguire quickly went from hero to 'ease up on me coach' and there was a small issue between Maguire and Issac Luke, there was the prescription drug issue and this season we saw Glenn Stewart play out one of his worst NRL seasons while a player like Chris McQueen continues to descend into NRL obscurity. It's hard to win in the NRL when there's issues pulling you each and every way.

While Burgess won't be there to tell players "don't mix than oxycontin with Red Bull mate, that's silly' he will apparently straighten the Rabbitohs' culture out. Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, it would have been rather strange to see such a talismanic figure like Burgess leave the Rabbitohs as a player, especially after what he did to help his homies grab a Premiership ring. Had the Rabbitohs performed consistently in 2015 and stayed out of the headlines, then there might not have been the desire to bring Burgess back but it's pretty clear now that Maguire and Russell Crowe knew that something or someone was missing.

The phrase 'meant to be' might sound airy-fairy, kinda like my use of 'positive/negative vibes' yet in this case the stars certainly aligned. Burgess was more of a circus act in rugby with the only real positive being that he made the Rugby World Cup squad. This coincided with the Rabbitohs having a year to forget, hence we're in this position.

Bringing Burgess back to the NRL isn't cheap though and the fact that it is now November means that the Rabbitohs would have had their 2016 roster all figured out. It would be silly to think that the Rabbitohs didn't leave some salary cap space open for the possibility that Burgess' rugby experiment might fail. Helping the Rabbitohs in this situation isn't necessarily the NRL's 'war chest' full of money that Australian media want used on the likes of Burgess and SBW, instead the Rabbitohs have a plethora of corporate opportunities that Burgess can make the most of. That will bump up the amount of money that he earns.

The Rabbitohs are apparently shopping Dylan Walker around, which will ease their salary cap pressure as well as moving on a player who found himself in strife this season. Walker is a super talented centre who has an ongoing hand/wrist problem which has seen him miss plenty of games and play in many of games when perhaps he shouldn't have... and we wonder what drives a player to enjoy prescription painkillers too much.

In theory, after allowing Issac Luke and Stewart to leave and picking up Damien Cook as their only notable signing other than Burgess, the Rabbitohs should have some money to work with. This is countered however by the fact that the Rabbitohs upgraded the contracts of the Burgess twins, Chris Grevsmuhl, Alex Johnston, Luke Keary, Kyle Turner, David Tyrell and Cameron McInnes which wouldn't have come cheap.

Without the knowledge of the salaries (damn I wish I was in the USA), I can only merely speculate about the Rabbitohs' salary cap situation. My gut feeling is that the Rabbitohs now have a convenient excuse to try move Walker on, which can be absorbed by the likes of Kirisome Auva'a and Bryson Goodwin and I wouldn't expect too many other players besides Walker and McQueen to be in the shop window.

Regardless of whether the Rabbitohs are able/want to keep Walker and McQueen, the presence of Burgess will immediately have an influence on the Rabbitohs. I don't think that Burgess makes the Rabbitohs a title contender because of what he offers on the field, instead I reckon that Burgess' value is as a leader of an NRL club where he sets the tone in all aspects.

There are teams like the Tigers, Eels and Panthers who will be more fun to follow this summer as they will serve up the dramas, yet the Rabbitohs will now be fun to follow for a different reason. The 'Burgess Effect' experiment has now started so grab your notepads and put away the painkillers.