Jai Arrow, the man brought to the club on a rich deal to replace Burgess when he was medically retired in 2019, said Burgess had stressed the need to “not lose your feet in tackles”, and apply attention to detail at every training session.

Burgess had also helped Arrow adjust to playing in the middle again after spending the bulk of last year on an edge.

Even Burgess’ younger brother Tom loved having his sibling back at the club, and noticed how the motivation levels had lifted every day.

“He has that winning mentality we need,” Tom Burgess said. “In footy now, everyone is fit and strong, but what is that difference to get you over the line? It’s that mentality, and he’s helping us out in that respect.

“He’s great to have around the forwards on game day and another motivating voice for us. Come game day, you can tell how much he would love to pull on the shirt again.”

Meanwhile, Souths superstar Latrell Mitchell and Jack Wighton will appear in an ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday following their late-night rumble outside a nightclub on February 5.

Wighton was charged by police with fighting in a public place and failing to comply with an exclusion direction, while Mitchell was also hit with a fighting charge, as well as affray and resisting territory public official.

The pair apologised for their actions at the time, and were allowed take part in the Indigenous All Stars game.

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Murray said Mitchell had confided in his Souths teammates, and would not let the late-night incident impact on his football.

“I hope what happened the other week is a minor distraction in his preparation, and like Latrell does, he’ll let his footy do the talking,” Murray said.

“He spoke to me about it, he spoke to a few of the boys about it, but there were no hard feelings from any of the boys in the group. We always support our teammates when they’re going through a tough time.”

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