07 February 2024 , 16:23
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Huddersfield Giants have made one of the biggest signings in their history with the shock capture of England prop Tom Burgess.
The South Sydney star, 31, will head home to the UK on a three-year deal in 2025.There had been plenty of speculation he’d join Warrington, where elder brother Sam is now head coach, or Leeds Rhinos, on his return from the NRL.But the hulking front-row has surprised plenty by opting for Huddersfield who see the huge coup as a real show of their intentions.
Yorkshireman Burgess, who has made more than 200 appearances for Souths since joining from Bradford in 2013, said: “I feel real good about getting it all sorted. Obviously I have been looking at potentially coming back to the Super League for the last few years.
"I re-signed with Souths until the end of the year but now I’ve been really fortunate to get in touch with Huddersfield and we came to an agreement.
“One thing I am really excited about coming back to Huddersfield is that it’s really close to where I grew up and where I went to school. Bringing my young family back there is going to be really cool, coming back to where it all began with a great club like Giants.”
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Having won an NRL Grand Final with Souths, Burgess wants to deliver a maiden Super League title for Huddersfield who have spent decades searching for an elusive championship. He said: “There is no mistake in what I want to do over in England. I want to come over there and win silverware.
"I’m not coming back to make up numbers or finish my career. I never got there with Bradford; we had a good side back in those early days, but we never pushed through into the play-offs and made the go for it. So I want to get to those finals and bring silverware back to where it should be: the birthplace of rugby league.”
England's Tom Burgess (Paul Currie/SWpix.com)Burgess, who played in the 2017 World Cup final has 33 Test caps, will join Huddersfield in November. The West Yorkshire club, who start their new campaign at Leigh next Friday, failed to make the play-offs last term. But boss Ian Watson is desperate to put that right and believes the signing of Burgess shows how serious they are for the future.
He worked with Burgess on the 2019 Great Britain tour and said: “This is a huge transfer, not just for the Giants, but for Super League and the game in general. With the stature of Thomas and what he’s achieved in his career, to be consistently one of the best front rowers within the game, we’re absolutely delighted for him to become a Giant in 2025.
“You only have to look at his career, winning the NRL and consistently being one of the best within the international game. We’ve been on the lookout for a big middle, and Thomas fits the profile of what we’ve been searching for. It’s also great to have another English middle in our pack.
“We heard that Tom may be available within the next year or so, so we touched base. I had a conversation with him just about rugby for about an hour, and then received a call from his agent notifying me that he would be interested in joining the Giants. It moved quickly from there. I know him from the [Great Britain] Lions tour, and I saw then first-hand the standards he sets himself, and how he applies himself in training and during games.
“There was interest in Super League for him, but he wanted to come here, and the three-year deal gives his family security, and he’s moving close to where it all started for him at Bradford.”