20 sleeps to go

With 20 sleeps to go, we close in on the end of yet another Friday night without our Friday Night Footy fix, but these times are soon coming to an end! With the Charity Shield on Friday the 22nd, that means we only have to endure one more Friday evening without a game before the NRL begins. On that positive note, let's move on to number 20 in my list of the top 30 players in the NRL, with the first Englishman to enter the fray

#20 Sam Burgess

Big Sam is another young bloke who it feels like has been on the scene for 10 years. At just 24, he enters his fourth year in the NRL, after spending four years in the UK Super League for Bradford where he made his début in 2006. Burgess is only a fresh 24 year old at that, celebrating his birthday a little over two months ago in December of last year, by the time he celebrates his 25th birthday, he'll have four years of Super League and four years of NRL footy under his belt. Throw in an international career for the UK and England that began all the way back in 2007 and a spot in the NRL All Star game before he even played a game in the NRL and you've got a phenomenal resume for someone of such a young age.

19 year old Burgess obliterates Kiwi powerhouse Fuifui Moimoi

It didn't take very long for the 196cm, 116kg man-child to prove that his monstrous style of play was going to translate to the NRL. Capable of playing anywhere in the forward pack, Burgess spent the majority of his first season at the Rabbitohs in the second row, his second year was decimated by injury restricting him to only four games, his third season saw him transition into predominantly a front rower. His approach to the game however, regardless of the number on his back, remains the same, he does it all. With his huge frame and great strength, he carries the ball ferociously, he was 18th in the NRL in runs with 329 despite missing 6 games. He's also a fantastic offloader, 9th in the NRL, again despite missing a handful of games. He racks up tackles and minutes like they are going out of fashion, he's almost Gallen like in the way he can go out and play a complete forwards game seemingly without need for rest, which has seen him become a huge hit with Dream Team and Supercoach players. Worst of all for opposition teams, he hits like an absolute truck, earning the nickname "The Hitman"...

The hardest hitting Englishman since Ricky Hatton

What's left now for Burgess is to obtain a championship or two, something that has eluded him throughout his career so far. But at only 24, it seems just a matter of time until he finds premiership success, his Rabbitohs outfit certainly made a strong crack at it in 2012.  Burgess has also been hampered injury wise so will no doubt be hoping to put forth a complete season in terms of the number of games he can be on the pitch for, and one can only imagine what kind of damage he can do if his body doesn't slow him down. There's really nothing more for this guy to work on, he's the complete package, he's got plenty of years left in him, he's going to be one of the elite players in the competition for years to come. Along with being an exceptional player on the field, he seems to be a complete stand up character off the field also, and he's proved a great hit on the Footy Show

Check back in tomorrow as we break into the teens, at least the Super Rugby has started right? give me a tweet if you have any comments @WellsNorthShore