PREMIERS South Sydney are under attack from rival clubs, with Manly and the Warriors attempting to poach English international Tom Burgess.

The Sunday Telegraph has learned the Warriors have offered Burgess, 22, $700,000-a-season to move to Auckland, while the Sea Eagles are using older brother Luke Burgess to talk up a move to the northern beaches.

The off-contract Burgess, who will start Sunday’s match against Wests Tigers from the interchange bench, has assured Rabbitohs faithful his preference is to remain alongside twin, George.

At the same time, money talks all languages and cashed-up NRL rivals are intent on pricing Souths out of the market for the emerging forward.

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“I’m in negotiations with Souths, we’ll see how we go with that,” Burgess said.

“My manager lives in England so there’s a bit of emailing going back and forth and we had the chance to catch up when we were over there for the World Club Challenge.

“We’ll hopefully get that sorted soon. I’ve loved my time at Souths. Souths is my first priority, but we’ll see what happens.”

Burgess was the last of the brothers to move to Australia, serving his apprenticeship playing for the North Sydney Bears in the NSW Cup.

He has played 28 NRL matches and won five Test caps for England.

While George has established himself among the best front-rowers in the NRL, Tom is still a work in progress.

The Sea Eagles’ interest in Burgess was initially made public in January when coach Geoff Toovey and new CEO Joe Kelly had a heated row in the Manly football offices at Narrabeen.

Numerous staff had to be cleared out of the office as the pair let rip.

The Sunday Telegraph has been told the club always intended to target Tom once they had Luke signed and sealed at Narrabeen.

media_camera Burgess is rated a raw talent with plenty of potential.

Armed with the biggest cheque book in the NRL, the Sea Eagles have also identified Sam Burgess as a potential­­­ ­target for next season.

On the prospect of the Clive Churchill medallist quitting a stint in English rugby to return to the NRL with the Sea Eagles, Burgess said: “I speak to him every day and he’s enjoying the challenge.

“With every game he plays he gets more of a feel for it. It’s quite technical.

“Every club would probably target him, any club would be lucky to have him. I think his head’s pretty focused on what he wants to do over there.”

George Burgess, who has begun this season as arguably the best front-rower in the NRL, said he was hopeful of convincing his twin to remain at Redfern.

“It’s a great club to be at and why move somewhere if you’re happy at a club,” Burgess said.

“Hopefully we can get the big boy signed up and enjoy it for a few years longer.”