Tom Burgess is facing the prospect of having to do a forfeit bungee jump after his Huddersfield Giants debut ended in defeat to brother Sam’s Warrington Wolves side.
Sunday’s final match of Round 1 of the 2025 Betfred Super League season saw the Wolves claw their way to a 20-12 victory at the John Smith’s Stadium after finding themselves 6-4 down at half time.
Prop Burgess was making his Giants bow in the game after returning to Yorkshire from South Sydney Rabbitohs on a three-year contract, and his older brother confirmed afterwards the pair had placed a friendly wager on the outcome which involved the loser having to do a bungee jump.
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“Unlucky Tom – you made the bet,” Wolves boss Burgess told Sky Sports.
Tries from Arron Lindop, Matty Ashton, Toby King and Matt Dufty helped Warrington to victory after Tui Lolohea’s converted try had put Huddersfield ahead.
Joe Greenwood crossed for the Giants’ other try, but the Wolves were able to avoid becoming another team on the end of an eyebrow-raising opening-round loss after Wigan Warriors and Catalans Dragons were beaten by Leigh Leopards and Hull FC respectively.
That was not lost on player of the match Dufty.
“We were the last game of the round, so we saw Wigan in a tough fight then we saw Cas take it to Hull KR,” Dufty told Sky Sports.
“We knew what we were in store for and we’ve got a tough couple of weeks coming up, and we’ll take it one week at a time and not look too far into the future.”
Burgess is expecting to face a backlash from the Dragons in Warrington’s first home game of the campaign in Round 2 and wants to see improvements from his side in terms of connectivity with the ball and their end-of-set play if they are to mount a challenge for a maiden Super League title in 2025.
“Everyone is pretty ambitious this time of year and we’re no different,” Burgess said. “We’ve got a lot of things to fix up and get better at.
“It’s a whole new team, a whole new season, it’s got to start all over again and we’re happy to get the two points.
“There is a long way to go. We’ve got Catalans Friday and they’ll be reeling from Saturday, then the week after we play Wigan in Vegas.”
Image: Olly Hassel/SWpix
