Sam Burgess Named George Piggins Medallist for Best & Fairest

Author: rabbitohs.com.au
Timestamp: Fri 10 Oct 2014, 10:15 PM

Rabbitohs lock-forward, Sam Burgess, has been rewarded for an outstanding season by being named George Piggins Medallist by Head Coach Michael Maguire as the Club’s best and fairest player at tonight’s Red and Green Ball in addition to four other awards.

In what was his last season in the red and green, Burgess was a man on a mission in 2014 and never was that fact more apparent than in Sunday’s Grand Final, when Burgess played the entire match with multiple fractures to his cheek-bone and eye-socket, etching his name into Rabbitohs Premiership history for his heroics as a result.

Burgess’s Grand Final performance would also earn him the coveted Clive Churchill Medal as man of the match in the decider, to become the first Rabbitoh to win the medal named in honour of the South Sydney legend and immortal.

Burgess enjoyed what many would agree was his best season yet in 2014 – being recognised as the Dally M Lock of the Year before going on to claim Premiership success and his Clive Churchill medal.

In his 26 appearances this year, ‘Slammin’ Sam scored 10 tries for 40 points, averaging 35.2 tackles and a whopping 178.4 metres per game. Add in 66 tackle breaks, 13 line-breaks and 61 offloads, and Burgess was without doubt one of the side’s hardest working players in season 2014.

The Best and Fairest award at the Rabbitohs is named after Club legend George Piggins. Piggins was not only a premiership-winning and international player, he was also a celebrated coach and official with the Club over a 40-year period. He was also one of the leading figures in the Club’s fight for re-instatement to the elite Rugby League competition in the early 2000s.

Congratulations to Sam Burgess on being the George Piggins Medallist for season 2014.

Previous Winners:

2003 – Bryan Fletcher

2004 – Ashley Harrison

2005 – Peter Cusack

2006 – David Fa’alogo

2007 – Roy Asotasi

2008 – Luke Stuart

2009 – John Sutton

2010 – Issac Luke

2011 – Nathan Merritt

2012 – John Sutton