Friday 22 July 2016 20:33, UK
Luke Burgess, the oldest of the four Burgess brothers who played together for South Sydney, is on his way back to Super League after signing for Salford.
The Red Devils beat Friday's 5pm transfer deadline by minutes to bring in the former Leeds prop from Manly, along with his Sea Eagles team-mate Feleti Mateo.
Both players have been signed initially for the Super 8s, which start on the first weekend of August, and are expected to arrive early next week.
Burgess, 29, began his career with Leeds in 2008, before following younger brother Sam, the former Bradford forward, to the NRL with the Rabbitohs, where they were later joined by twins Tom and George.
Salford coach Ian Watson said: "Our guys have really stood up during the regular season and bringing in players of Luke's quality will give everybody a boost at this stage.
"We have been monitoring him since before the season and are delighted to be bringing him to the AJ Bell Stadium.
"We have been a top six team on our performances and we have to go out and get through a tough middle 8s, making sure our play is up to the same standard. Luke will add to our squad and cause our opponents problems."
Burgess, who was a non-playing member of the England squad in 2014, moved in 2015 to Manly, where he linked up with Mateo, 32, the former Parramatta and New Zealand Warriors loose forward.
Mateo previously made 14 Super League appearances for London Broncos at the start of his career in 2005.
Red Devils director of rugby Tim Sheens said: "We are bringing in a couple of great players as insurance. You can't risk going into the Super 8s and picking up a couple of injuries and finding yourself relegated.
"We are looking to get the guys over this weekend, or certainly early next week, to get them prepared for our first game of the qualifiers."
