Sam Burgess will achieve his goal of becoming an NRL head coach because his mentor Wayne Bennett says he has leadership qualities of the rarest kind.
Burgess, head coach of Warrington, was inducted into the NRL Hall of Fame on Wednesday night at the SCG where the 2014 premiership winner with South Sydney spoke of his ambition to coach in the NRL when his deal in England expired.
He also revealed he had been speaking with Bennett on a weekly basis for assistance with his coaching with the Wolves.
Bennett, who coached Burgess at Souths and England, said it was a matter of "when" not "if" Sam achieved his goal.
"Sam has got leadership qualities that are very rare in a lot of people. He is a strong leader. That is the number one priority to be a head coach ... leadership," Bennett said.
"He just needs to do his apprenticeship right now and get it right over there. He is doing a great job. Sam will be someone who will be able to choose where he wants to go (in the NRL) when the time comes.
"Sam Burgess is a nine and a half out of 10 bloke. His passion for what he does is unequalled in my experience and I have worked around a lot of men."
Bennett, currently Dolphins mentor, will coach the Rabbitohs for three seasons from 2025. Burgess will be finished at Warrington in time to join him as an assistant or may be recruited elsewhere as a head coach.
Burgess accepted Bennett's Hall of Fame jacket on Wednesday night as the mastercoach was unable to attend his own induction for personal reasons.
There has been a lot of talk in the rugby league world about his absence.
"There has always been a lot of talk about me so we will leave it at that," Bennett quipped.
"If I thought I should tell you, I would. It is my business and it will remain my business."
Bennett was delighted that six-time premiership winning forward Ron Coote was inducted as the 14th Immortal.
"He was a wonderful player and I am so pleased he was inducted," Bennett said.
"It was Norm Provan who was inducted last time (in 2018) and they were certainly the great players of that era, plus others.
"I think that probably just tidied up that era. They got it right and now we can move on to the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.
"It is an elite group that will be there in the future so it is hard to get that next nomination. Some will miss out, I have no doubt, but that won't take away from what great players they were."
While there was criticism of the judging process - most notably the absence of the three living Immortals Mal Meninga, Andrew Johns and Wally Lewis on the judging panel - Bennett said the end result of Coote getting the gong was right.
