Sam Burgess has declared that teammate Cody Walker deserves to represent New South Wales in this year's State of Origin series.
The Souths five-eighth has enjoyed an impressive start to 2019 with his side sitting on top of the ladder, highlighted by a four-try haul against the Warriors last week.
And Burgess has likened Walker's Origin pursuit to Damien Cook's in 2018, who was an outside chance of receiving the call up before starring in the series.
"With Cody, I think we're all seeing the same thing,'' Burgess told The Sun-Herald.
"He's a special player. 'Freddy' [Brad Fittler] understands what he is doing, and he will make a good decision for NSW.
"I will always support Cody, I'm with him every day and I know what he does and what he brings.
"Cody in any team will be good. He's taken on more responsibility, he's really stepped up in terms of leadership, naturally he's a great communicator, he competes well, and they are all the attributes of a good player.''
Burgess lamented the Rabbitohs loss of Greg Inglis but said it was his time to step up as sole captain.
"I knew. We had a couple of chats, but basically all we did was be there for Greg as a friend,'' Burgess said.
"We weren't even there as a sounding board becauseย he was the one who had to make the decision. It was a huge decision.
"I think Greg and his family and the club and the players have all handled it well.
"Of course we will miss him. He's Greg Inglis. But Kyle Turner has done a good job, we also have Adam Doueihi and Braidon Burns to come back.
"We'll miss Greg but we can't hang on to it, it's happened, we can't dwell. It's the NRL. It's relentless.
"Life without Greg has begun. He'll still have a presence around the place in some capacity.''
Souths are (7) premierships in front of the rorters “lol@rorters4everinourshadow”
If he can score 4 tries against a top 4 side I’d agree he should get selection but if he was he would probably partner Luke Keary which I can’t see being a good combination.
Love my bunnies but they are struggling to beat the teams at the bottom of the table . They have not been the same side since they beat the roosters. Cody played great and scored 4 tries against a struggling warriors who couldnโt beat the cowboys at home . Walker is to inconsistent and Reynolds is to slow. Both are good NRL players but Origin is a few levels up . Great to be mentioned but not for this Souths fan .
I rate his skills but his got that grub about him .annoys me .. 1 of those players you only love if the play for your team . Soward , Hodges, Ennis, gallen, chambers , .Next gen Cody walker and latrell Mitchell
No inglis no jennings burns is injured still and douehi has not played this year we are in need of a fullback johnston needs to go to the wing.the corey allan hype was just that hype.we need to buy a fullback and a marquee centre otherwise we cant compete with the rorters or the rorting storm…
Johnston sees himself as a fullback he rarely breaks the line he is a winger thats it.johnston just wants fullback money not wingers money as spine money is more money so johnston thinks of his pocket before he thinks whats best for the team thats pure greed alex johnston your holding our club to ransom thats pathetic…from a souths member…
I wish we had johnston on one wing and corey oates on the other…
If souths go after a stop gap player then we can forget 2019 why should we forget 2019? Cmon souths buy a gem we got the cash he who hesitates is lost FACT THINK BIG SOUTHS JUST DO IT THE RORTERS AND THE STORM ALWAYS DO/RORT THE CAP…
Lets have a good look of a team that the Roosters have let go to prove they do not rort the cap.
1. Tuivasa-Shreck 2016/ Minichiello 2015
2. Gordon 2018
3. Jennings 2016
4. Kenny- Dowall 2017
5. Ferguson 2019
6. Maloney 2016/ Watson 2018
7. Pearce 2018
8. Moa 2017 Martin Kennedy 2014
9. Mortimer 2015/ Baptiste 2019
10. Napa 2019 /Kane Evans 2018
11. Matterson 2019 / Guerra 2018
12. Sony Will Billions 2015
13. Nuasusalla 2019 Luke O’Donnell 2014
After letting that team go I would think we have change left over with the side we have now.๐ช๐๐๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฑ
Yes 100% agree dra01, Walker is the biggest grub getting around. Latrell Mitchell is aggressive but he needs to fine tune the art of clean fair aggression and Walkerism that does appear to come into his game on some occasions. ๐ช๐ฑ๐