Burgess committed to Souths despite NFL interest

South Sydney prop Tom Burgess has shown his commitment to the club by signing a deal until 2019, but he remains interested in the NFL.

Burgess recently added another season to his contract with Souths, but he has also trained with NFL gridiron clubs from the USA.

He also spoke to representatives of NFL franchise New York Giants in London during the Four Nations tournament when he was with the England squad.

The NRL recently made it illegal for their players to train with NFL clubs, ruling that the American competition was a rival league, as far as the NRL was now concerned.

“I can understand where they are coming from,” Burgess said, according to Australian newspaper The Daily Telegraph.

“The club’s are paying the players and they are going to training. You never know, they could get injured in training. I do understand that. It’s fair enough.

“I was in the states and I was interested. I managed to get in touch with one club and it snowballed from there.

“I got out a bit of knowledge on how they operate. If I could take anything out to my club I would.

“A lot of successful people do that. They look other places where people work and other successful organisations. That’s all I was trying to do.”

Despite his recent commitment to Souths, Burgess still keeps a close eye on events in the NFL, and is refusing to rule anything out in the future.

“I’m interested in the game,” he added.

“Definitely if something came up I would have a look at it but I don’t think it would.

“I’m still in contact with some of the guys from over there. More like a friendship, that’s good for me. I caught up with the general manager (of the Giants in London).”