The brothers will split at the end of this year after Sam accepted a big-money switch to English rugby union club Bath with an eye on featuring in next year's rugby World Cup. South Sydney coach Michael Maguire was told of Burgess' defection on Sunday but played a minor role in discussions. "I wasn't aware of the dealings of it," Maguire said. "It was all done externally. I didn't know any information about it. We as a club have given the information as we went through it. I think it has been handled quite well. "We spoke as an organisation. I'm not going to talk about who made the decisions." Maguire said suggestions he and Burgess had fallen out were "completely untrue" and backed his star forward to play well this year.

"Sammy is a great bloke and we really enjoy working with him," Maguire said as his team returned from the Auckland Nines on Monday. "He has been at this club [for a while] and has given a hell of a lot to this club. We are looking forward to really enjoying this 12 months ahead of us." The Rabbitohs, who are set to receive almost $1 million for releasing Burgess, will look to Andrew Fifita, Blake Ferguson or Ben Matulino as possible replacements. Cronulla's State of Origin and Australia representative Fifita, who will be off contract at season's end has been sounded out by Australian rugby union officials to switch codes. However, Sharks captain Paul Gallen said while Cronulla's management was obliged to fight hard to keep Fifita, who was picked up by the Sharks for three years when he was cut by the Wests Tigers because of salary cap issues, he hoped the tough forward would show ''loyalty'' to the club even though Gallen conceded rugby league was a business. ''It's very important we keep him, he's our No.1 player at the moment,'' said Gallen, who was preparing to make his professional boxing debut on Wednesday night.

''We've just [re-signed] Todd Carney [for five years] so if we can keep Andrew Fifita we will have the nucleus of a good side. It's very important. Fifita, I think he's got a bit of loyalty in him - we gave him an opportunity and he's made the most of it. ''Fingers crossed he stays at Cronulla but at the end of the day it is a business, he has a young family and has to look after himself. Hopefully, and I don't know what the money [being offered] is, but I don't think the Sharks would be too far off anything that's being offered to him. Like I say, fingers crossed he stays.'' Burgess said a desire to become a dual international led to him walking away from his NRL contract two years early. He joins Bath in October. "I'm happy this has all been sorted out before the start of the season so that I can concentrate on my game and the team without any other things in the way," Burgess told the South Sydney website.

"An opportunity presented itself to head back home to England and to pursue a chance to represent my country in two different sports. Loading "With 2015 being a Rugby World Cup, it was an opportunity I had to pursue and I thank the Rabbitohs for allowing me to make this move and start the next chapter in my sporting career. But all of that starts next season. "We have a great opportunity in front of us now as a group and I'll be doing my best every week to help us win each game and hopefully improve on what we've been able to achieve in the past two seasons.''