Crowe delight as Souths end the pain

South Sydney owner Russell Crowe hailed the contribution of his players and staff after the club sealed a first premiership in 43 years.

Crowe, who presented suspended hooker Issac Luke – who missed the game – with a ring he purchased for him after the final siren, said it was a night he would never forget.

The Hollywood superstar who bought the club in 2006, helped restore the club to being one the the game’s superpowers 12 years after they were readmitted back into the competition.

“I would say it’s a pretty good night,” Crowe said.

“There’s deep deep satisfaction, this is a team sport and there has been a lot of people involved over the last nine years and a lot of effort gone in.

“It’s a grand reward for those who stepped up to the plate and said we weren’t to put up with Souths being a losing club any more.”

Crowe hailed the impact Sam Burgess has had on the club since his arrival in 2010 with the rugby-bound Englishman winning the Clive Churchill Medal despite playing the whole game with a shattered cheekbone.

“I met him he was 20 years old and he had this ambition and I noticed what that level of ambition was,” he said.

“I call him the sparkly-eyed man. He can be hard as he wants on the football field but gracious off of it.

“He’s carved his name deep in the history of rugby league.”

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