"No Sam, you can't do that. Don't break my heart."
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That was Julie Burgess' reaction when her son Sam told her he was quitting league for rugby union, and she still hopes the South Sydney star will return to the NRL to play alongside his brothers - Luke, George and Thomas - again.
With the realisation that Sam was set to play his last game for the Rabbitohs on Sunday night, Julie broke into tears as he, George and Thomas were introduced on stage at Thursday's grand final lunch.
Understandably, she wants Sam to return to England with an NRL premiership but Julie revealed that she never wanted him to leave at all and had begged him to stay when he first outlined his plans to switch codes earlier this year.
"It was pretty heartbreaking," she recalled. "I remember Sam sitting me down on Coogee steps and saying, 'Mum, I have got something to tell you.'
"I was looking in his eyes and realised it was something pretty serious.
"When he told me what he was planning on doing I said, 'No Sam, you can't do this. Don't break my heart. We are all here now.'
"But when he explained his reasons and what goals he had set for himself, how could you not respect that? I hope he will come back, but I totally respect his decision."
Having followed Sam to Sydney after he joined the Rabbitohs as a 21-year-old in 2010, Julie said she, Luke and the twins, George and Thomas, had no plans to leave.
"I think all the boys are very settled here," she said.
"I was really happy because we really work well as a family when we are all together, we bond well and we see each other nearly every day so it will be strange not having Sam around.
"I can't believe it. Sam has got this real feel good factor about him and when you are around Sam you feel good so I am going to miss him. But I am staying here, I have got a great life here now. I love Sydney, I love my life and I love my work."
While disappointed that Luke has missed out on the 17-man squad chosen by Rabbitohs coach Michael Maguire for the grand final, Julie said she felt more for hooker Issac Luke after he was ruled out by a two-match ban imposed at Tuesday night's NRL judiciary hearing.
Julie said she had got to know Luke well and knew how much he was hurting.
"All I have said all week is that I just want it for Sam, but now I want it for Sam and Issac," she said.
"I want it for Issac more than Sam because I am devastated for Issac.
"I think he thinks he is a Burgess, there is a massive bond. I love the fact that he is all about the team and he loves my boys like they are his brothers. He is just South Sydney through and through and he is just a great guy."
Julie's other regret is that her late husband Mark, who died of motor neuron disease in 2007, never got to see their sons play for the Rabbitohs.
"It is always there in the background," she said of Mark, who played for Rochdale Hornets, Dewsbury, Hunslet and Nottingham City in England.
"On Father's Day, I gave them some video footage of their dad and I think that is really important to them. It is sad that their dad never saw them achieve any of this ... I can't say any more than that; it is just sad."
