Bennett tells Burgess to clean up his game

South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett has told Sam Burgess he still needs to cut the penalties out of his game.

Sam Burgess was called out for his penalty count against the Dragons by Wayne Bennett. (AAP)

Wayne Bennett has called out Sam Burgess for his ill-discipline, accusing the English star of trying too hard in South Sydney's NRL trial win over St George Illawarra.

Not for the first time in his career, Burgess was given a public dressing-down by Bennett for his penchant for giving away penalties.

The mastercoach didn't mince his words when asked about Burgess' high tackle on the Dragons' Jordan Pereira in the Rabbitohs' 36-24 Charity Shield victory in Mudgee.

"Sam has to work on his discipline," Bennett said.

"He's a 30-year-old and one of the top players the game has ever seen. He understands what works and what doesn't.

"He just needs to take ownership of that.

"Sam has a great competitive instinct. He reminded me in the first half of someone who was maybe trying too hard. That was more of his problem than anything else."

Burgess remonstrated with the referees after being pinged in the 37th minute.

"What's the penalty for mate? He's f****** five foot tall," Burgess was heard saying to head referee Ashley Klein.

Three years ago Bennett delivered a withering spray to Burgess after he gave away two penalties in England's Test loss to Australia which resulted in them being knocked out of the Four Nations

The pair have now reunited at Redfern, and Bennett said Burgess still needed to clean up that area of his game.

"First game of the year, he's excited, he wants to be a part of it all tonight," Bennett said.

"Five or six games into the season and he won't have that excitement, especially when he's waking up sore every Monday morning."

Bennett was frustrated with the discipline of his entire team after they gave away nine first-half penalties to be down 18-16 at the break, despite being the better side.

"I didn't need to say much, they realised what they were doing to themselves," Bennett said.

"They were playing really good football and pretty much controlled the game but they kept giving away penalties and it was killing us."