Salford Red Devils owner Marwan Koukash has hit out at the British media over their handling of the Sam Burgess affair.
Koukash, a business magnate who last year publicly considered buying NRL club Newcastle Knights, is a self-confessed fan of Burgess and took to twitter to suggest other rugby league players should heed warning before considering a switch.
"It is disgusting to read some of the comments by RU media regarding Sam Burgess. Any RL player thinking of playing Union should think again," he tweeted on Thursday morning.
Koukash regularly stated during Burgess' stint in rugby union that he wanted to bring the Englishman back to the 13-man game through Salford.
Burgess' performance in England's ill-fated Rugby World Cup campaign was met with widespread criticism from the British media while his coach at Bath, Mike Ford, was also critical upon his departure.
"All I know is that he didn't have the stomach to see out his contract," Ford said.
"For me this was the time to roll his sleeves up and become the player that I thought he could be - and he chose not to."
Burgess joked that after the criticism he faced in England, the Australian media were "all right" on his return on Wednesday.
"Everyone is saying that is a failure but if you saw the work that went in, the commitment to get in that position, I'm proud of what I achieved," he said.
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