Former Rabbitohs star Sam Burgess to start a new job as the head coach of a country footy team

Sam Burgess is set to start a brand new footy job in 2022.

The former South Sydney Rabbitohs player will be the head coach of the Orara Valley’s Axemen, near Coffs Harbour on the NSW north coast.

The 32-year-old told News of The Area on Saturday that he saw the opportunity to give back to the sport after talking with his long-time friend and Rabbitohs co-owner Russell Crowe.

Career move: Former Rabbitohs star Sam Burgess is set to start a new job in 2022 as the head coach of the Orara Valley’s Axemen, near Coffs Harbour on the NSW north coast

He explained that he and the Academy Award winning actor had a conversation about his dreams of becoming a head coach, following his stint as an assistant coach for the Rabbitohs after his 2019 retirement.

‘[Russell] explained that Orara Valley had folded and it needed a bit of a catalyst to get them back up and running in good order.

‘I saw the challenge or the opportunity as something where there’d be a lot of reward in terms of being back in the community, back at the grassroots level in the game,’ he said. 

Words of wisdom: The 32-year-old told News of The Area on Saturday that he saw the opportunity to give back to the sport after talking with his long-time friend and Rabbitohs co-owner Russell Crowe. Pictured together in 2014

Opportunity: Sam, who was an assistant coach for the Rabbitohs after his 2019 retirement, said: ‘[Russell] explained that Orara Valley had folded and it needed a bit of a catalyst to get them back up and running in good order’

The retired athlete told the publication the challenge of the head coach position was too good to pass up.

‘The joy that I’ll get out of bringing what I might bring to the club and the area was something that I just couldn’t turn down.’

Sam’s exciting new coaching role comes as he is set to debut in Channel Seven’s SAS Australia, which will air in September.

Reality TV stint: Sam’s exciting new coaching role comes as he is set to debut in Channel Seven’s SAS Australia, which will air in September

In promos for the upcoming series, the footy star breaks down in tears during an interrogation and admits he ‘lost respect’ for himself when his marriage fell apart.

‘I lost my career, my kids and my marriage. I’ve lost it all. I obviously lost respect for myself,’ he tells Chief instructor Ant Middleton and his fellow Directing Staff. 

Ant replies: ‘Not a lot of people are honest with themselves. It takes something extraordinary to find out who they really are.’

‘I’ve lost it all’: In promos for the upcoming series, the footy star breaks down in tears during an interrogation, and admits he ‘lost respect’ for himself when his marriage to Phoebe Burgess fell apart

The South Sydney captain retired from NRL due to a shoulder injury back in 2019.

A year later he finalised his divorce from wife-of-five-years Phoebe.

The former couple share and co-parent their two children, daughter Poppy, four, and son Billy, two.

Doting father: The former couple share and co-parent their two children, daughter Poppy, four, and son Billy, two