Sam Burgess isn't leaving the burrow until he hangs up the boots.
The South Sydney talisman on Wednesday announced he would remain at Redfern until the end of the 2023 NRL season after putting to paper on a four-year contract extension.
On a red letter day for the club in which they announced plans to re-enter the NSW Cup in 2019, the re-signing of Burgess provided a major boost on the eve of the finals.
Despite being on contract until the end of 2019, the Rabbitohs put Burgess under lock and key for the rest of his career.
The Rabbitohs spruiked it as a "lifetime deal" and he said he planned to retire at its conclusion when he will be 34-years-old.
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"I'd like to leave the game while I'm still playing good football," Burgess said.
"I don't want to play if I'm not doing the club justice and I'm not doing the right thing by the team."
The English superstar started his career with four years at Bradford in the English Super League before coming to Australia in 2010 where he played a key role in the foundation club's drought-breaking premiership win in 2014.
Burgess wrote himself into Rabbitohs folklore when he famously played through the pain of a broken jaw, suffered in the first tackle of game of their 2014 grand final win over Canterbury.
He had two years away from the Rabbitohs during his rugby union sojourn in England, however he insisted he always considered Redfern home.
Burgess, 29, never considered testing his value on the open market or opening himself up to offers from rival clubs.
"Putting it into words, I couldn't do it justice," Burgess said, when asked what the club meant to him.
"South Sydney gave me an opportunity as a young kid and little did I know nine years ago not only the impact it would have on my life, but my family's life.
"It's been a great journey from a small town in the north of England to given a chance to play in the biggest rugby league competition in the world."
His brothers Tom and George are off contract at the end of 2019 and he said he hoped they would also re-sign soon.
Meanwhile, the Rabbitohs has applied to the NSWRL to field a team in next year's NSW Cup after severing their feeder club relationship with the North Sydney Bears.
Rabbitohs general manager of football Shane Richardson said that if successful, the club would play home matches at its traditional base Redfern Oval.
