England star George Burgess receives NINE game ban for another eye-gouging offence

SOUTH SYDNEY and England prop George Burgess says his “career is probably in the balance” after being banned for NINE games for eye-gouging - his second such offence in less than a year.
South Sydney's George Burgess reacts following his NRL Judiciary Hearing at Rugby League Central in Sydney. (PHOTO: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)South Sydney's George Burgess reacts following his NRL Judiciary Hearing at Rugby League Central in Sydney. (PHOTO: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
South Sydney's George Burgess reacts following his NRL Judiciary Hearing at Rugby League Central in Sydney. (PHOTO: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
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The Yorkshireman pleaded guilty and has been suspended for the remainder of the NRL regular season following the dangerous contact on Wests Tigers hooker Robbie Farah.

Dewsbury-born Burgess was banned for four games after a previous eye gouge on New Zealand's Dallin Watene-Zelezniak when the Kiwis toured England last November.

South Sydney's George Burgess (SWPix)South Sydney's George Burgess (SWPix)
South Sydney's George Burgess (SWPix)
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The NRL reported that he conceded to the judiciary that “my career is probably in the balance” and “what I've done looks pretty disgraceful on the footage there.”

But Burgess - who started out in Bradford Bulls’ academy before beginning his career with Souths - insisted it was not a deliberate act and “I swear on my kids lives I didn't know I had my hands in his eyes.”

Burgess, 27, is out of contract at the end of the season and is hoping to get a new deal at Souths where he debuted in 2012 but he may struggle to get a contract there or anywhere else in the NRL.

Super League clubs will be monitoring the situation and Burgess maintained: “I'm definitely going to change the way I play.

“I'm going to be a lot more cautious ... I will be more careful."